Latest results of Eurofusion plasma-facing components research in the areas of power loading, material erosion and fuel retention

0554369 - ÚFP 2023 RIV AT eng J - Journal Article
Reinhart, M. - Brezinsek, S. - Kirschner, A. - Coenen, J. - Schwarz-Selinger, T. - Schmid, K. - Hakola, A. - van der Meiden, H. - Dejarnac, Renaud - Tsitrone, E. - Doerner, R. - Baldwin, M.J. - Nishijima, D.
Latest results of Eurofusion plasma-facing components research in the areas of power loading, material erosion and fuel retention.
Nuclear Fusion. Roč. 62, č. 4 (2022), č. článku 042013. ISSN 0029-5515. E-ISSN 1741-4326
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 633053 - EUROfusion
Institutional support: RVO:61389021
Keywords : device psi-2 * jet-ilw * tungsten * divertor * deposition * beryllium * fuel retention * plasma-surface interaction * helium-tungsten interaction * ITER-like monoblocks * 3D erosion modelling * plasma-facing components
OECD category: Fluids and plasma physics (including surface physics)
Impact factor: 3.3, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ac2a6a

The interaction between the edge-plasma in a fusion reactor and the surrounding first-wall components is one of the main issues for the realisation of fusion energy power plants. The EUROfusion Work Package on plasma-facing components addresses the key areas of plasma-surface interaction in view of ITER and DEMO operation, which are mostly related to material erosion, surface damage and fuel retention. These aspects are both investigated experimentally (in tokamaks, linear plasma devices and lab experiments) and by modelling. Here, selective results regarding the main research topics are presented: in the area of tungsten (W) surface modifications, the interplay between W fuzz formation and W fuzz erosion depends strongly on the local plasma and surface conditions, as demonstrated by tokamak experiments. Complementary, experimental findings on the dependence of erosion on the surface structure in lab-scale experiments have led to the successful implementation of surface structure effects in numerical modelling. The qualification of ITER-like monoblocks at high fluences of up to 10(31) D m(-2) in linear plasma facilities has shown no visible damages at cold plasma conditions. However, experiments with simultaneous plasma and pulsed heat loading (edge-localized modes simulations) show that synergistic effects can lower the W damage thresholds. Additionally, fuel retention studies show that nitrogen as a plasma impurity increases the fuel retention in W, and that deuterium implanted in the surface of W is capable of stabilizing displacement damages caused by neutron damage. Finally, the implications of these results on ITER and DEMO operation are discussed and an outlook on follow-up experiments is given: the results indicate that there are possible impacts on the ITER divertor lifetime and tritium removal. Other areas like the divertor shaping and the erosion need additional investigations in the future to quantify the impact on ITER and DEMO operation.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0341081