ASCOT simulations of fast ion power loads to the plasma-facing components in ITER

Abstract

The wall loads due to fusion alphas as well as neutral beam injection- and ICRF-generated fast ions were simulated for ITER reference scenario-2 and scenario-4 including the effects of ferritic inserts (FIs), test blanket modules (TBMs), and 3D wall with two limiter structures. The simulations were carried out using the Monte Carlo guiding-centre orbit-following code ASCOT. The FIs were found very effective in ameliorating the detrimental effects of the toroidal ripple: the fast ion wall loads are reduced practically to their negligible axisymmetric level. The thermonuclear alpha particles overwhelmingly dominate the wall power flux. In scenario-4 practically all the power goes to the limiters, while in scenario-2 the load is fairly evenly divided between the divertor and the limiter, with hardly any power flux to other components in the first wall. This is opposite to earlier results, where hot spots were observed with 2D wall (Tobita et al 2003 Fusion Eng. Des. 65 561–8). In contrast, uncompensated ripple leads to unacceptable peak power fluxes of 0.5 MW m−2 in scenario-2 and 1 MW m−2 in scenario-4, with practically all power hitting the limiters and substantial flux arriving even at the unprotected first wall components. The local TBM structures were found to perturb the magnetic field structure globally and lead to increased wall loads. However, the TBM simulation results overestimate the TBM contribution due to an over-simplification in the vacuum field. Therefore the TBM results should be considered as an upper limit.