KSTAR Experiments Research Articles

Gyrokinetic simulations of the effects of magnetic islands on microturbulence in KSTAR

Abstract Gyrokinetic simulations are utilized to study effects of magnetic islands on the ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence in the KSTAR tokamak with resonant magnetic perturbations. Simulations show that the transport is controlled by the nonlinear interactions between the ITG turbulence and self-generated vortex flows and zonal flows, leading to an anisotropic structure of fluctuation and transport on the poloidal plane and in the toroidal direction. Magnetic islands greatly enhance turbulent transport of both particle and heat. The turbulent transport exhibits variations in the toroidal direction, with transport through the resonant layer near the island X-point being enhanced when the X-point is located at the outer mid-plane. A quantitative agreement is shown between simulations and KSTAR experiments in terms of time frequency and perpendicular wavevector spectrum.

Overview of the KSTAR experiments toward fusion reactor

Abstract The KSTAR has been focused on exploring the key physics and engineering issues for future fusion reactors by demonstrating the long pulse operation of high beta steady-state discharge. Advanced scenarios are being developed with the goal for steady-state operation, and significant progress has been made in high ℓi, hybrid and high beta scenarios with βN of 3. In the new operation scenario called FIRE, fast ions play an essential role in confinement enhancement. GK simulations show a significant reduction of the thermal energy flux when the thermal ion fraction decreases and the main ion density gradient is reversed by the fast ions in FIRE mode. Optimization of 3D magnetic field techniques, including adaptive control and real-time machine learning (ML) control algorithm, enabled long-pulse operation and high-performance ELM-suppressed discharge. Symmetric multiple shattered pellet injections and real-time DECAF are being performed to mitigate and avoid the disruptions associated with high-performance, long-pulse ITER-like scenarios. Finally, the near-term research plan will be addressed with the actively cooled tungsten divertor, a major upgrade of the NBI and helicon current drive heating, and transition to a full metallic wall.

Estimation of neutral beam injector power transferred to KSTAR plasmas

KSTAR shows the long pulse capability based on superconducting magnet and NBI plays a crucial role in sustaining the plasma via plasma heating and current driving. So, the accurate NBI power measurement transferred to KSTAR plasma is important for the analysis of plasma transport as well as plasma performance parameters. In a long pulse operation, the water coolant temperature is at the steady state condition in longer pulse more than 20s and the coupled neutral beam power to KSTAR plasma during the tokamak experiments is rechecked by using water flow calorimetric method after the experiment. The effect of beam duct scraper loss which was not considered at the neutral beam power calibration process is less than 5 % in terms of neutral beam power. However, in long pulse operation of NBI in KSTAR experiments, high strength of stray PF affects the beam path, the neutral beam power registered on mds + using beam current method is over estimated and it is calculated up to a few percent in terms of neutral beam power using calorimetric method. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the beam power variation by PF effect to interpret the plasma performance degradation in long pulse operation. Lastly. when the ion source tun on or turn off in condition other ion sources are operated, the beam transmission power is also affected because of sharing the beam box for ion sources so that the careful power estimation is necessary for such kind of beam power modulation experiments in KSTAR.

Formation of small-scale modes via ECCD injection into KSTAR plasma core

In KSTAR experiments exhibiting sawtooth instability, the formation of multiple flux tubes (MFTs) has been frequently observed when electron cyclotron resonance heating or a current drive is applied near the inversion radius of the sawtooth. On the global scale, these MFTs evolve into a single flux tube mode or dual modes. The modes are observed as multiple Fourier harmonics in the spectrogram. A comprehensive correlation analysis of 2D imaging diagnostic data reveals a notable energy transfer within structures of varying sizes during the global mode transition. Broadband fluctuations are enhanced, and energy transfer between Fourier harmonics occurs in the presence of MFTs. Cross-power spectrum in the presence of multiple Fourier harmonics aligns with power law of inverse cascade. This suggests that energy inverse cascade process can contribute to formation of MFTs.

KSTAR ECH System Development Progress

The KSTAR ECH system has been upgraded to ensure steady-state advanced operation of KSTAR. The planned ECHs include a total of six 1 MW, 300 s ECH systems, of which four 105/140 GHz dual frequency systems have been commissioned and are being used in KSTAR experiments. Additionally, a 170 GHz Russian gyrotron has been commissioned and is ready for injection. The final unit, a multifrequency gyrotron similar to Japan’s ITER gyrotron, is scheduled for installation and operation in early 2025. To achieve the KSTAR mission of high-performance long-pulse operation using a plasma operation scenario with a high poloidal beta, ECH requires stable and long pulses, which typically results in the reduction of ECH power during campaigns. Consequently, one ECH unit with power ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 MW was utilized in the KSTAR experiments. The ECH power and launching angle can be controlled by the Plasma Control System (PCS) which maximizes the ECH effect at startup and at the flat top of the discharge. This paper describes the development status of the KSTAR ECH system and reports the longpulse operation results of the ECH system for a dummy load and KSTAR.

Analysis of neoclassical tearing mode stabilization experiment by electron cyclotron injection in KSTAR

We report the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) stabilization experimental results by injection of the electron cyclotron (EC) beam in KSTAR, and its analysis with integrated modelling. In the KSTAR experiment, NTM was intentionally induced and the EC beam was injected by the plasma control system (PCS) to stabilize it. Here, the EC angle was controlled based on the minimum seeking algorithm for the island growth rate. Although the EC angle was not changed significantly, the island width significantly decreased towards the end of the experiment followed by the recovery of plasma performance. To assess the NTM stabilization experiment from a stability perspective, we performed integrated modelling with TRIASSIC utilizing the reconstructed equilibrium with magnetic diagnostics and motional stark effect diagnostics. As a result, we observed that the NTM is stabilized by EC.

Transition in particle transport under resonant magnetic perturbations in a tokamak

Nonlinear 3D MHD simulations and validations reveal that the hybrid particle-MHD transport is a key process for driving the pump-out in the presence of Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (RMPs) in the KSTAR tokamak. Particle transport and the resulting density pump-out by RMPs are shown to be composed of not only the classical flow convection near magnetic islands due to polarization but also the neoclassical ion diffusion across perturbed magnetic surfaces. The latter is known as the Neoclassical Toroidal Viscosity (NTV) and is integrated into nonlinear MHD simulations here for the first time, revealing that the two-stage pump-outs observed in KSTAR experiments are reproduced only with such integrated nonlinear MHD and transport evolution. Near-resonant responses, which have received less attention than the resonant response, play distinct roles in the pump-out along with the island formation. In addition, this modeling is used to investigate the pump-outs in double-null-like plasmas and numerically capture the effect of the double-null shape on the pump-outs, which may explain the difficulty of Edge Localized Mode (ELM) suppression access in double-like plasmas. This reveals new aspects of the impact toroidal geometry and mode coupling have on 3D physics and reveals the importance of near-resonant components in suppressing ELMs.

Bifurcation-like transition of divertor conditions induced by X-point radiation in KSTAR L-mode plasmas *

Density ramps with ion grad B drift directed into lower single null KSTAR L-mode plasmas are associated with a simultaneous and abrupt reduction of the divertor particle flux on both low- and high-field-side targets when the mid-plane line averaged electron density reaches a given level. Target embedded Langmuir probe signals show a clear ‘cliff edge’ behavior similar to that observed in the divertor target electron temperature in DIII-D H-mode plasmas (Eldon et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 066039; McLean et al 2015 J. Nucl. Mater. 463 533–6). The collapse of the particle flux is observed along the whole divertor target area (from private flux region to the far scrape-off layer (SOL)). The critical upstream density of this target flux cliff is invariant under fuel gas throughput modulation. The transition along the cliff occurs in tens of milliseconds. With the cliff, carbon impurities and deuterium neutrals transported through the X-point to the core produce a strong radiation spot near the X-point, seen on bolometric signals, and increase the upstream density. The experimental observations are consistent with time-dependent SOLPS-ITER simulations, which also demonstrate an abrupt transition of the target flux and upstream density with the increase in X-point radiation. The timescale of the cliff predicted by SOLPS-ITER is consistent with the experiment, although, it is influenced by gas throughput or time-dependent numerical methods. In the L-mode phase space of separatrix electron density and temperature, branches are divided based on target temperature, because the latter is strongly coupled to the radiation front and ionization front due to the monotonic characteristic of the parallel electron temperature distribution. Since the H-mode condition operates at a much higher upstream density and electron temperature in phase space, dissipation from sputtered carbon alone leads to the density limit before reaching the X-point radiation condition. This is therefore consistent with the fact that cliffs have never been observed in H-mode KSTAR experiments.

Development of an operation trajectory design algorithm for control of multiple 0D parameters using deep reinforcement learning in KSTAR

This work develops an artificially intelligent (AI) tokamak operation design algorithm that provides an adequate operation trajectory to control multiple plasma parameters simultaneously into different targets. An AI is trained with the reinforcement learning technique in the data-driven tokamak simulator, searching for the best action policy to get a higher reward. By setting the reward function to increase as the achieved β p, q 95, and l i are close to the given target values, the AI tries to properly determine the plasma current and boundary shape to reach the given targets. After training the AI with various targets and conditions in the simulation environment, we demonstrated that we could successfully achieve the target plasma states with the AI-designed operation trajectory in a real KSTAR experiment. The developed algorithm would replace the human task of searching for an operation setting for given objectives, provide clues for developing advanced operation scenarios, and serve as a basis for the autonomous operation of a fusion reactor.

Neoclassical transport analysis of high rotational trace limit tungsten impurities in KSTAR tokamak

The accumulation of tungsten impurities measured in a KSTAR experiment was analyzed theoretically using a drift-kinetic code, NEO, to determine the contribution of neoclassical transport. According to the NEO simulation results, there is a certain value of impurity toroidal rotation speed maximizing the neoclassical inward convection. The inward convection decreases or the outward convection increases as the rotation increases only beyond the speed value. The non-monotonic dependency of the neoclassical convection on the rotation is analyzed by the several coefficients for many profile effects, including ion and electron profiles. The dependency of the coefficients for the main ion density gradient on the rotation is different from that for the temperature gradient, so it results in the amplification of the temperature screening beyond the certain value of the rotation. In the KSTAR case with high toroidal rotation of the tungsten (around Mach number 4.5), only in the mid-radius does the rotation reduce the inward impurity particle convection or change the inward convection to the outward convection. Thus, the rotation is a useful tool to control the impurity accumulation conditionally. The favorable condition occurs only for high rotation, which significantly depends on the radius and the collisionality due to the complicated non-monotonic dependency of the convection on the rotation speed.

Feedforward beta control in the KSTAR tokamak by deep reinforcement learning

In this work, we address a new feedforward control scheme for the normalized beta (β N) in tokamak plasmas, using the deep reinforcement learning (RL) technique. The deep RL algorithm optimizes an artificial decision-making agent that adjusts the discharge scenario to obtain a given target β N from the state–action–reward sets explored by its own trial and error in a virtual tokamak environment. The virtual environment for the RL training is constructed using a long short-term memory (LSTM) network that imitates the plasma responses to external actuator controls, which is trained using five years’ worth of KSTAR experimental data. The RL agent then experiences numerous discharges with different actuator controls in the LSTM simulator, and its internal parameters are optimized in the direction of maximizing the reward. We analyze a series of KSTAR experiments conducted with the RL-determined scenarios to validate the feasibility of the beta control scheme in a real device. We discuss the successes and limitations of feedforward beta control by RL, and suggest a future research path for this area of study.

Tokamak visible image sequence recognition using nonlocal spatio-temporal CNN for attention needed area localization

In this paper, we report a study that was conducted to explore the feasibility of developing a system that classifies the image sequence as ‘disruptive’ shot images or ‘non-disruptive’ shot images. The classifier identifies an image sequence as ‘non-disruptive’ shots or ‘disruptive’ shots using a non-local spatio-temporal 3D convolution neural network (CNN) from image sequences from the Tokamak visible imaging diagnostic system. To analyze the classification result, we localize an area that has contributed to the classification of an image sequence. We use class activation mapping (CAM) for CNN with global average pooling to localize the area. To train this classifier, we created a plasma disruption image sequence dataset using the data acquired from the KSTAR experiment. This classifier recognized disruption image sequences on the test dataset with 91.11% accuracy. Analysis of the CAMs of these image sequences revealed that this classifier recognizes the disruption of the plasma with a relative change in brightness over time in areas other than the plasma area of the image. Through this work, we will be able to develop a system that automatically classifies plasma disruption image sequence after experiments.

A machine learning approach to identify the universality of solitary perturbations accompanying boundary bursts in magnetized toroidal plasmas

Experimental observations assisted by 2-D imaging diagnostics on the KSTAR tokamak show that a solitary perturbation (SP) emerges prior to a boundary burst of magnetized toroidal plasmas, which puts forward SP as a potential candidate for the burst trigger. We have constructed a machine learning (ML) model based on a convolutional deep neural network architecture for a statistical study to identify the SP as a boundary burst trigger. The ML model takes sequential signals detected from 19 toroidal Mirnov coils as input and predicts whether each temporal frame corresponds to an SP. We trained the network in a supervised manner on a training set consisting of real signals with manually annotated SP locations and synthetic burst signals. The trained model achieves high performances in various metrics on a test data set. We also demonstrated the reliability of the model by visualizing the discriminative parts of the input signals that the model recognizes. Finally, we applied the trained model to new data from KSTAR experiments, which were never seen during training, and confirmed that the large burst at the plasma boundary that can fatally damage the fusion device always involves the emergence of SP. This result suggests that the SP is a key to understanding and controlling of the boundary burst in magnetized toroidal plasmas.

Feasibility experiment of physics-based global electron temperature profile control in KSTAR

KSTAR experiments have been conducted aiming at establishing a real-time control system that uses multiple actuators (NBI and ECH) to control the plasma profiles (Te and q profiles) and validating an applied physics-based plasma profile response model. Toward establishing the multiple plasma profile control system, the control experiment of the electron temperature profile has been performed in KSTAR as a first step. Although the plasma profile control system was in the commissioning phase, the electron temperature was feedback controlled successfully in real-time while the normalized radial profile of electron temperature remained nearly constant. In the circumstance, the implemented physics-based response model was successfully validated against control experiments with a step variation on the control target and an application of multiple actuators. The robustness of the controller is examined against an external disturbance in which a static version of the control matrix was used.

Gyrokinetic simulation study of magnetic island effects on neoclassical physics and micro-instabilities in a realistic KSTAR plasma

We perform gyrokinetic simulations to study the effects of a stationary magnetic island on neoclassical flow and micro-instability in a realistic KSTAR plasma condition. Through the simulations, we aim to analyze a recent KSTAR experiment, which was to measure the details of poloidal flow and fluctuation around a stationary (2, 1) magnetic island [M. J. Choi et al., Nucl. Fusion 57, 126058 (2017)]. From the simulations, it is found that the magnetic island can significantly enhance the equilibrium E × B flow. The corresponding flow shearing is strong enough to suppress a substantial portion of ambient micro-instabilities, particularly ∇Te-driven trapped electron modes. This implies that the enhanced E × B flow can sustain a quasi-internal transport barrier for Te in an inner region neighboring the magnetic island. The enhanced E × B flow has a (2, 1) mode structure with a finite phase shift from the mode structure of the magnetic island. It is shown that the flow shear and the fluctuation suppression patterns implied from the simulations are consistent with the observations on the KSTAR experiment.

Design of practical alignment device in KSTAR Thomson diagnostic.

The precise alignment of the laser path and collection optics in Thomson scattering measurements is essential for accurately determining electron temperature and density in tokamak experiments. For the last five years, during the development stage, the KSTAR tokamak's Thomson diagnostic system has had alignment fibers installed in its optical collection modules, but these lacked a proper alignment detection system. In order to address these difficulties, an alignment verifying detection device between lasers and an object field of collection optics is developed. The alignment detection device utilizes two types of filters: a narrow laser band wavelength for laser, and a broad wavelength filter for Thomson scattering signal. Four such alignment detection devices have been successfully developed for the KSTAR Thomson scattering system in this year, and these will be tested in KSTAR experiments in 2016. In this paper, we present the newly developed alignment detection device for KSTAR's Thomson scattering diagnostics.

Versatile controllability of non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations in KSTAR experiments

A newly upgraded IVCC (In-Vessel Control Coil) system equipped with four broadband power supplies, along with a current connection patch panel, are introduced with a discussion of their capabilities on various KSTAR experiments. Until the 2014 KSTAR experimental campaign, the non-axisymmetric field configuration could not be changed in a shot, let alone the limited number of accessible configurations. With the installation of the new power supplies, such restrictions have been greatly reduced. Based on the 2015 KSTAR run-campaign, this new system was confirmed to easily cope with various dynamic demands for toroidal and poloidal phases of the 3D magnetic field in a shot. With newly equipped magnetic sensors, this enables us to extend the operational options and further explore the 3D physics for tokamak plasmas.

Neutron diagnostics using Compton suppression gamma-ray spectrometer for tritium breeding blanket experiments

To obtain tritium breeding ratio in tritium breeding blanket experiments, incident neutron flux measurement is essential. To develop high tritium breeding performance, the more precise neutron flux measurement is required. In this work, the Compton suppression gamma ray spectrometer, which can suppress the expected background noise signals from Compton scatterings, is used to detect the gamma rays from neutron activated indium foils for the purpose of reducing the measurement errors in the neutron activation system (NAS). The statistical error of the measured sample activity in the Compton suppressed system is estimated to be about 2.8% from the counting error (1.4%) and the detector efficiency error (2.4%), and the statistical error of the measured sample activity in the non-suppressed system was estimated to be about 4.7% (from the counting error 2.0% and the detector efficiency error 4.3%) in KSTAR experiment. This system can be applied to ITER TBM and future nuclear fusion devices.

Development of prototype polychromator system for KSTAR Thomson scattering diagnostic

A polychromator is widely used by the Thomson scattering system for measuring the electron temperature and density. This type of spectrometer includes optic elements such as band-pass filters, focusing lens, collimating lens, and avalanche photodiodes (APDs). The characteristics of band-pass filters in the polychromator are determined by the measuring range of the Thomson system. KSTAR edge polychromators were developed by co-works at NIFS in Japan, and the KSTAR core polychromators were developed by NFRI in Korea. The power supply system of these polychromators is connected only to one power supply module and can manually control the APD's voltage at the front side of the power supply by using a potentiometer. In this paper, a prototype polychromator is introduced at the KSTAR. The prototype polychromator system has a built-in power supply unit that includes high voltage for the APD and ± 5 V for an op-amp IC. The high voltage for the APD is finely controlled and monitored using a PC with the LabView software. One out of the six band pass-filters has a center wavelength of 523.5 nm with 2-nm bandwidth, which can measure Zeff, and the other five band-pass filters can simultaneously measure the Thomson signal. In addition, we will show the test result of this prototype polychromator system during the KSTAR experiment campaign (2015).

Particle balance study for the fueling efficiency in KSTAR experiments 2013

The efficiencies of the fueling system in the KSTAR have been studied for the 2013 experimental results. The absolute amount of injected fuel or deuterium has been calibrated in advance of the main plasma experiments. This includes the primary actuator of fueling, i.e., gas puffing (GP) with piezoelectric valves located on mid-plane, and supersonic molecular beam injector (SMBI). In addition, neutral beam injectors (NBIs) and their base facility chamber also contribute to the amount of fuel injection whenever they are operated. Low fueling efficiency combined with particle loss due to wall retention essentially results in poor performance of density feedback control magnetic fusion devices such as the KSTAR.