T.C. Jernigan

Improved core fueling with high field side pellet injection in the DIII-D tokamak

The capability to inject deuterium pellets from the magnetic high field side (HFS) has been added to the DIII-D tokamak [J. L. Luxon and L. G. Davis, Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)]. It is observed that pellets injected from the HFS lead to deeper mass deposition than identical pellets injected from the outside midplane, in spite of a factor of 4 lower pellet speed. HFS injected pellets have been used to generate peaked density profile plasmas [peaking factor (ne(0)/〈ne〉) in excess of 3] that develop internal transport barriers when centrally heated with neutral beam injection. The transport barriers are formed in conditions where Te∼Ti and q(0) is above unity. The peaked density profiles, characteristic of the internal transport barrier, persist for several energy confinement times. The pellets are also used to investigate transport barrier physics and modify plasma edge conditions. Transitions from L- to H-mode have been triggered by pellets, effectively lowering the H-mode threshold power by 2.4 MW. Pel...

Measurements of impurity and heat dynamics during noble gas jet-initiated fast plasma shutdown for disruption mitigation in DIII-D

Impurity deposition and mixing during gas jet-initiated plasma shutdown is studied using a rapid ({approx}2 ms), massive ({approx}10{sup 22} particles) injection of neon or argon into stationary DIII-D H-mode discharges. Fast-gated camera images indicate that the bulk of the jet neutrals do not penetrate far into the plasma pedestal. Nevertheless, high ({approx}90%) thermal quench radiated power fractions are achieved; this appears to be facilitated through a combination of fast ion mixing and fast heat transport, both driven by large-scale MHD activity. Also, runaway electron suppression is achieved for sufficiently high gas jet pressures. These experiments suggest that massive gas injection could be viable for disruption mitigation in future tokamaks even if core penetration of jet neutrals is not achieved.

Control and dissipation of runaway electron beams created during rapid shutdown experiments in DIII-D

DIII-D experiments on rapid shutdown runaway electron (RE) beams have improved the understanding of the processes involved in RE beam control and dissipation. Improvements in RE beam feedback control have enabled stable confinement of RE beams out to the volt-second limit of the ohmic coil, as well as enabling a ramp down to zero current. Spectroscopic studies of the RE beam have shown that neutrals tend to be excluded from the RE beam centre. Measurements of the RE energy distribution function indicate a broad distribution with mean energy of order several MeV and peak energies of order 30?40?MeV. The distribution function appears more skewed towards low energies than expected from avalanche theory. The RE pitch angle appears fairly directed (????0.2) at high energies and more isotropic at lower energies (??<?100?keV). Collisional dissipation of RE beam current has been studied by massive gas injection of different impurities into RE beams; the equilibrium assimilation of these injected impurities appears to be reasonably well described by radial pressure balance between neutrals and ions. RE current dissipation following massive impurity injection is shown to be more rapid than expected from avalanche theory?this anomalous dissipation may be linked to enhanced radial diffusion caused by the significant quantity of high-Z impurities (typically argon) in the plasma. The final loss of RE beams to the wall has been studied: it was found that conversion of magnetic to kinetic energy is small for RE loss times smaller than the background plasma ohmic decay time of order 1?2?ms.

Pellet fuelling and control of burning plasmas in ITER

Pellet injection from the inner wall is planned for use in ITER as the primary core fuelling system since gas fuelling is expected to be highly inefficient in burning plasmas. Tests of the inner wall guide tube have shown that 5 mm pellets with up to 300 m s−1 speeds can survive intact and provide the necessary core fuelling rate. Modelling and extrapolation of the inner wall pellet injection experiments from present days smaller tokamaks leads to the prediction that this method will provide efficient core fuelling beyond the pedestal region. Using pellets for triggering of frequent small edge localized modes is an attractive additional benefit that the pellet injection system can provide. A description of the ITER pellet injection systems capabilities for fuelling and ELM triggering is presented and performance expectations and fusion power control aspects are discussed.

Gas jet disruption mitigation studies on Alcator C-Mod and DIII-D

High-pressure noble gas jet injection is a mitigation technique which potentially satisfies the requirements of fast response time and reliability, without degrading subsequent discharges. Previously reported gas jet experiments on DIII-D showed good success at reducing deleterious disruption effects. In this paper, results of recent gas jet disruption mitigation experiments on Alcator C-Mod and DIII-D are reported. Jointly, these experiments have greatly improved the understanding of gas jet dynamics and the processes involved in mitigating disruption effects. In both machines, the sequence of events following gas injection is observed to be quite similar: the jet neutrals stop near the plasma edge, the edge temperature collapses and large MHD modes are quickly destabilized, mixing the hot plasma core with the edge impurity ions and radiating away the plasma thermal energy. High radiated power fractions are achieved, thus reducing the conducted heat loads to the chamber walls and divertor. A significant (2 × or more) reduction in halo current is also observed. Runaway electron generation is small or absent. These similar results in two quite different tokamaks are encouraging for the applicability of this disruption mitigation technique to ITER.

An international pellet ablation database

The contents are described of an international pellet ablation database (IPADBASE) that has been assembled to enable studies of pellet ablation theories that are used to describe the physics of an ablating fuel pellet in a tokamak plasma. The database represents an international effort to assemble data from several tokamaks of different magnetic configurations and auxiliary heating methods. In the initial configuration, data from JET, Tore Supra, DIII-D, FTU, TFTR, ASDEX Upgrade, JIPP T-IIU, RTP and T-10 have been included. The database contains details of measurements of deuterium and hydrogen pellet ablation, including pellet mass and speed, plasma electron density and temperature profiles, and pellet ablation light emission. A summary of the database contents and a scaling analysis of the data are presented

Measurements of injected impurity assimilation during massive gas injection experiments in DIII-D

Impurities (H2, D2, He, Ne or Ar) injected into steady (non-disrupting) discharges with massive gas injection (MGI) are shown to mix into the plasma core dominantly via magnetohydrodynamic activity during the plasma thermal quench (TQ). Mixing efficiencies of injected impurities into the plasma core are measured to be of order 0.05?0.4. 0D modelling of the experiments is found to reproduce observed TQ and current quench durations reasonably well (typically within ?25% or so), although shutdown onset times are underestimated (by around 2?). Preliminary 0D modelling of ITER based on DIII-D mixing efficiencies suggests that MGI will work well in ITER with regard to disruption heat load and vessel force mitigation, but may not collisionally suppress runaway electrons.

Disruption mitigation with high-pressure noble gas injection

Abstract High-pressure gas jets of neon and argon are used to mitigate the three principal damaging effects of tokamak disruptions: thermal loading of the divertor surfaces, vessel stress from poloidal halo currents and the buildup and loss of relativistic electrons to the wall. The gas jet penetrates as a neutral species through to the central plasma at its sonic velocity. The injected gas atoms increase up to 500 times the total electron inventory in the plasma volume, resulting in a relatively benign radiative dissipation of >95% of the plasma stored energy. The rapid cooling and the slow movement of the plasma to the wall reduce poloidal halo currents during the current decay. The thermally collapsed plasma is very cold (∼1–2 eV) and the impurity charge distribution can include >50% fraction neutral species. If a sufficient quantity of gas is injected, the neutrals inhibit runaway electrons. A physical model of radiative cooling is developed and validated against DIII-D experiments. The model shows that gas jet mitigation, including runaway suppression, extrapolates favorably to burning plasmas where disruption damage will be more severe. Initial results of real-time disruption detection triggering gas jet injection for mitigation are shown.

Demonstration of rapid shutdown using large shattered deuterium pellet injection in DIII-D

A severe consequence of a disruption on large tokamaks such as ITER could be the generation of multi-megaelectronvolt electron beams that could damage the vacuum vessel and the structures of the machine if they hit the wall unmitigated. The mitigation of runaway electron beams is thus a key requirement for reliable operation of ITER. In order to achieve reliable disruption mitigation, a new fast shutdown technique has been developed: the injection of a large shattered cryogenic pellet in the plasma, which is expected to increase the electron density up to levels where the beam generation processes are mitigated by collisional losses. This technique has been implemented and tested for the first time ever on DIII-D. The first tests show evidence of an almost instantaneous deposition of more than 260 Pa m3 of deuterium deep in the core. Record local densities during the thermal quench were observed for each injection with a very high reliability. Pellet mass and plasma energy content scans show an improvement of the assimilation of the particles for higher plasma energy and larger pellet mass.

Pellet fuelling, ELM pacing and disruption mitigation technology development for ITER

Plasma fuelling with pellet injection, pacing of edge localized modes (ELMs) by small frequent pellets and disruption mitigation with gas jets or injected solid material are some of the most important technological capabilities needed for successful operation of ITER. Tools are being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory that can be employed on ITER to provide the necessary core pellet fuelling and the mitigation of ELMs and disruptions. Here we present progress on the development of the technology to provide reliable high throughput inner wall pellet fuelling, pellet ELM pacing with high frequency small pellets and disruption mitigation with gas jets and shattered pellets. Examples of how these tools can be employed on ITER are discussed.