Abstract
ITER plasma operation requires a non-active phase for tokamak initial commissioning, covering First Plasma and Pre-Fusion Power Operation phases, PFPO-1 and PFPO-2. Non-active operation consists of hydrogen and helium plasmas to minimize the neutron production rate. The present document describes some Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency (ICRF) heating schemes in terms of their predicted performance for the main foreseen scenarios of the ITER non-active phase in hydrogen and helium. Emphasis is given on remaining issues and physics uncertainties to be addressed for successful ICRF heating in ITER.
Highlights
Auxiliary heating power is essential for future tokamaks to achieve and sustain fusion performance
The new ITER research plan is based on a staged approach including two Pre-Fusion Power Operation phases PFPO-1 and PFPO-2 consisting of hydrogen and helium plasmas
The PFPO-2 phase will benefit from the full baseline heating capabilities, i.e. Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH), Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency (ICRF) and Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) heating providing a total auxiliary power of 73 MW
Summary
Auxiliary heating power is essential for future tokamaks to achieve and sustain fusion performance. The new ITER research plan is based on a staged approach including two Pre-Fusion Power Operation phases PFPO-1 and PFPO-2 consisting of hydrogen and helium plasmas. Efficient fusion performance relies on achieving an improved confinement regime, i.e. the so-called H-mode. Three main magnetic fields are under consideration to improve H-mode access capabilities in the non-active phase: B0 = 1.8T, 2.65T and 5.3T. The PFPO-2 phase will benefit from the full baseline heating capabilities, i.e. ECRH, ICRF and NBI heating providing a total auxiliary power of 73 MW. A number of ICRF heating schemes have been investigated for these magnetic fields, both in hydrogen and helium plasmas. The expected RF absorption efficiencies of each of these schemes, based on 1D RF wave modelling [2], is reported here
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