Keiji Tani

Effect of Toroidal Field Ripple on Fast Ion Behavior in a Tokamak

Computational studies have been performed for fast ion behavior in a Tokamak with toroidal field ripple. Collisionless behavior of fast ions relating to rippletrapping, ripple-detrapping and banana drift is of essential importance in fast ion loss processes in case of quasi-perpendicular neutral beam injection. The collisionless ripple trapping and ripple-enhanced banana drift produce a large number of loss bands in velocity space and enhance the loss of fast ions. The fast ion loss associated with ripple can be categorized into two groups; ripple-trapped loss and banana-drift loss. The amount of loss particles due to the respective loss process is significantly influenced by the effect of finite banana size of fast ions. The ripple-trapped loss particles are localized in a specific region on the first wall surface.

Bootstrap current during perpendicular neutral injection in JT-60

The neoclassical bootstrap current effect is investigated in the JT-60 tokamak. The experimental resistive loop voltages are compared with the calculations, using the neoclassical resistivity, with and without the bootstrap current, and the Spitzer resistivity for a wide range of plasma current (Ip = 0.5-2 MA) and poloidal beta (βp = 0.1-3.2). The neoclassical bootstrap current is calculated directly with the force balance equations for viscous and friction forces according to the Hirshman–Sigmar theory. The bootstrap current driven by the fast ion component is also included. The calculated resistive loop voltage is consistent with the neoclassical prediction including the bootstrap current. It is shown that up to 80% of total plasma current is driven by the bootstrap current in the regime with an extremely high poloidal beta value (βp = 3.2) while the beam driven current is negligibly small.

RIPPLE LOSS OF SUPRATHERMAL ALPHA PARTICLES DURING SLOWING-DOWN IN A TOKAMAK REACTOR

The slowing-down process of suprathermal alpha particles in a rippled toroidal field is investigated by means of an orbit-following Monte-Carlo code. It is found that numerical results on the collisionless ripple loss agree fairly well with the theoretical predictions. The collisional diffusion coefficient for non-ergodic banana particles in a field ripple is derived. The ripple-enhanced power loss of alpha particles during slowing-down amounts to 10% of their total power in a reactor-grade tokamak with a toroidal-field ripple of δ ~ 1%. The fraction of particle loss is 1.5 to 1.8 times as large as that of power loss. The ripple-enhanced banana drift dominates the alpha-particle loss process.

Ripple induced fast ion loss and related effects in JT-60U

Experiments have been carried out in JT-60U to verify the modelling of fast ion ripple transport. The ripple induced loss was estimated from the neutron decay following neutral beam pulse injection and the loss related heat load on the first wall. Comparison of the lost fraction and the hot spot positions between measurements and orbit following Monte Carlo calculations exhibited good agreement, indicating that the ripple transport governing fast ion losses is explained within the framework of existing theory. Neutral beam heating experiments in JT-60U also indicate that H modes free of ELMs are still obtainable for ripple amplitudes of up to 2.2%

Fast ion losses due to toroidal field ripple in JT-60U

A previous experiment in JT-60U supported an orbit following Monte Carlo (OFMC) calculation regarding ripple trapped loss, and the present experiment, furthermore, suggests that the OFMC also predicts banana drift loss fairly well. In the experiment presented, the total fast ion losses due to toroidal field ripple were estimated from the decay in neutron emission following a short neutral beam injection (90 keV, D). The neutron decay for co-passing beam injection showed a diffusivity of about 0 m2/s, which indicates no fast ion loss. In contrast, the neutron decay for trapped particle injection exhibited characteristic enhancement of fast ion losses due to toroidal field ripple: the fast ion losses consisted of ripple trapped convection and ripple banana diffusion in the low collisionality regime. The OFMC calculation reconstructed completely the experimental neutron decay irrespective of the total ripple losses and the fraction of banana drift loss. Considering the previous work on ripple trapped loss and this result, it can be concluded that the OFMC code gives a good quantitative estimation of banana drift loss as well as ripple trapped loss

Improvement of energy confinement time by continuous pellet fuelling in beam-heated Doublet III limiter discharges

A centrifuge injector that repetitively fires 1.3 mm deuterium pellets (1 torr⋅L per pellet) at a rate of 32 pellets per second was used to build up and maintain a Doublet III 2.4 MW neutral-beam-heated limiter discharge at a line-averaged density of 1 × 1014 cm−3. When compared to a conventional gas-fuelled plasma at similar density, the pellet-fuelled plasma was characterized by a factor-of-three reduction in edge neutral density and limiter recycling, a centrally peaked profile, a 70% increase in global energy confinement, and a tenfold increase in the fusion reaction rate.

Particle simulation of divertor plasma

Abstract Characteristics of divertor plasmas are studied by using a one-dimensional electrostatic particle simulation code with a binary collision model. Dependence of plasma parameters, such as temperature, flow speed, pre-sheath potential, etc., on the collisionality is investigated in detail. Collisions play an important role in supplying electrons with large velocity parallel to the magnetic field, which can pass through the sheath potential barrier near the divertor plate. The pre-sheath with the scale length of the system size is formed by the collisional relaxation of the velocity distribution as well as by the particle source. The flow speed is increased by this potential and exceeds the sound speed.

Effects of ELM mitigation coils on energetic particle confinement in ITER steady-state operation

The effects of edge-localized mode (ELM) mitigation coils (ELM coils) on the loss of NBI-produced fast ions and fusion-produced alpha particles are investigated using an orbit following Monte Carlo code. The ELM mitigation coil field (EMC field) may cause a significant loss of fast ions produced by NBI on the order of 16.0–17.0% for a 9 MA steady-state ITER scenario. A significant transit-particle loss occurs in the case of the toroidal mode number n = 4 in which magnetic surfaces are ergodic near the plasma periphery. When the number of ELM coils in each toroidal row is nine, the main toroidal mode n = 4 is accompanied by a complementary mode nc = 5. Concerning the resonance of fast-ion trajectories, the anti-resonant surfaces of n = 4 are very close to the resonant surfaces of nc = 5 and vice versa. Since the effect of resonance on fast-ion trajectories dominates that of anti-resonance, a synergy effect of the main and complementary modes effectively enlarges the resonant regions. In a single n-mode EMC field, the resonant and anti-resonant regions are well separated. The peak heat load due to the loss of NB-produced fast ions near the upper ELM coils is as high as 1.0–1.5 MW m−2, which exceeds the allowable level in ITER. Rotation of the EMC field is essential for ITER to alleviate the local peak heat load. Most loss particles hit the inner side of the torus of the dome in the ITER divertor. The loss of alpha particles is also increased by the effect of the EMC field. The loss is still acceptably low at less than 1.0%.

Achievement of high fusion triple product in the JT-60U high βp H mode

Improvement of an enhanced confinement state in a high poloidal beta (βp) regime without sawtooth activity has been achieved in JT-60U. A confinement mode has been demonstrated where both the edge and the core confinement are improved. The attainable βp was also extended to higher values in this improved mode, because of its broader pressure profile. As a result of the improvement in confinement and in attainable βp, the highest value of the fusion triple product has been extended by a factor of 2.5 over that achieved in the 1992 experiments; it has reached (1.1 ± 0.3) × 1021 m-3.s.keV with a central ion temperature of about 37 keV. The D-D neutron emission rate has also been doubled in these experiments and has reached (5.6 ± 0.6) × 1016 s-1

Loss of fast tritons in JT-6OU reversed magnetic shear discharges

In reversed magnetic sheaf-plasmas, fast ion confinement is anticipated to deteriorate because of a weak poloidal magnetic field in the core. In fact, in experiments at JT-6OU considerable depletion of triton burnup in reversed magnetic shear has been observed, compared with normal (positive) magnetic shear. The experimental triton burnup in the reversed shear was 11 to 39% of that expected, while that in the normal shear was 64 to 87%. Here, the expected burnup is based on one dimensional (1-D) calculations that assume classical slowing down and no diffusion of fast tritons. Orbit following Monte Carlo simulations, which treat finite orbit effects and ripple transport processes properly, match the experimental depletion and indicate that ripple loss is responsible for the enhanced triton loss in reversed shear operations. The results raise concerns about serious megaelectronvolt ion loss in reversed shear operations in steady state tokamak reactors