A new lower tungsten divertor has been developed and installed in the EAST superconducting tokamak to replace the previous graphite divertor with power handling capability increasing from <2 MW m−2 to ∼10 MW m−2, aiming at achieving long-pulse H-mode operations in a full metal wall environment with the steady-state divertor heat flux of ∼10 MW m−2. A new divertor concept, ‘corner slot’ (CS) divertor, has been employed. By using the ‘corner effect’, a strongly dissipative divertor with the local buildup of high neutral pressure near the corner can be achieved, so that stable detachment can be maintained across the entire outer target plate with a relatively lower impurity seeding rate, at a separatrix density compatible with advanced steady-state core scenarios. These are essential for achieving efficient current drive with low-hybrid waves, a low core impurity concentration and thus a low loop voltage for fully non-inductive long-pulse operations. Compared with the highly closed small-angle-slot divertor in DIII-D, the new divertor in EAST exhibits the following merits: (1) a much simpler geometry with integral cassette body structure, combining vertical and horizontal target plates, which are more suitable for actively water-cooled W/Cu plasma facing components, facilitating installation precision control for minimizing surface misalignment, achieving high engineering reliability and lowering the capital cost as well; (2) it has much greater flexibility in magnetic configurations, allowing for the position of the outer strike point on either vertical or horizontal target plates to accommodate a relatively wide triangularity range, δ l = 0.4–0.6, thus enabling to explore various advanced scenarios. A water-cooled copper in-vessel coil has been installed under the dome. Five supersonic molecular beam injection systems have been mounted in the divertor to achieve faster and more precise feedback control of the gas injection rate. Furthermore, this new divertor allows for double null divertor operation and slowly sweeping the outer strike point across the horizontal and vertical target plates to spread the heat flux for long-pulse operations. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate the ‘corner effect’ and are in good agreement with simulations using SOLPS-ITER code including drifts. The EAST new divertor provides a test-bed for the closed divertor concept to achieve steady-state detachment operation at high power. Next step, a more closed divertor, ‘sharp-cornered slot’ divertor, building upon the current CS divertor concept, has been proposed as a candidate for the EAST upper divertor upgrade.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) research program concentrates on demonstrating steady-state high-performance H-mode operations with ITER-like tungsten divertor. Calorimetry was applied to actively water-cool the plasma facing components (PFCs) by increasing the water temperature for power balance investigation. Considering the energy balance of EAST long-pulse high-performance discharges with upper single null (USN) configuration, thus far, approximately 78% of the injected energy could be accounted for. The method of estimation of heat flux on upper tungsten divertor target with a high time-and spatial-resolved infrared camera has been developed, and the sum of its heat load was found to be significantly consistent with that measured through calorimetry. The record longest steady-state H-mode plasma #73 999 was sustained for up to 101.2 s with net injected energy exceeding ~0.25 GJ in the USN configuration. Heat load analysis of this discharge using calorimetric measurement indicates that the modification of heat load distribution was observed and this was induced by a slight change in the magnetic configuration. Not all temperature increments in the five cooling water modules reached the saturated state for the 100 s level discharge, which means that 100 s timescales are insufficient as compared to the thermal transport timescale in the targeted PFCs. The heat load on the tungsten divertor targets is not evenly distributed with the ratio of ~2 in favour of the outer divertor.The experimental results and analysis of the physics involved in these USN configuration discharges are reported and discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.