Isotope effects of the edge transport barrier of JET-ILW H-modes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Future fusion power plants for clean energy production will need to operate with a mixture of different hydrogen isotopes, namely deuterium and tritium (D-T). The ITER experimental tokamak, currently being built in France, is an international fusion facility which will demonstrate burning plasma operation with D-T mixture. It is crucial to predict and optimise the fusion performance of ITER which requires deeper understanding of the effect of isotope mass on plasma confinement, transport and stability.
The JET tokamak in the UK is in a phase of D-T experimental campaigns with both full tritium and deuterium-tritium operation. Together with the ITER-like combination of plasma facing components this phase addresses key aspects of operation with different hydrogen isotopes and will demonstrate ITER regimes in D-T. The project focuses on the analysis of JET-ILW edge plasma data in support of predictive models for the edge transport barrier. JET is in an excellent position for creating a high quality confinement and profile database suitable for studying core and edge contributions to the global confinement, to study the isotope scaling of the edge structure, to investigate the inter-ELM transport and the micro turbulence limiting the edge gradients.
The JET tokamak in the UK is in a phase of D-T experimental campaigns with both full tritium and deuterium-tritium operation. Together with the ITER-like combination of plasma facing components this phase addresses key aspects of operation with different hydrogen isotopes and will demonstrate ITER regimes in D-T. The project focuses on the analysis of JET-ILW edge plasma data in support of predictive models for the edge transport barrier. JET is in an excellent position for creating a high quality confinement and profile database suitable for studying core and edge contributions to the global confinement, to study the isotope scaling of the edge structure, to investigate the inter-ELM transport and the micro turbulence limiting the edge gradients.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Kieran Gibson (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Laszlo Horvath (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/N509413/1 | 01/10/2015 | 30/09/2020 | |||
| 1651735 | Studentship | EP/N509413/1 | 01/10/2015 | 30/09/2019 | Laszlo Horvath |
| Description | Fusion energy research aims to produce electricity by the use of deuterium-tritium fusion reactions. However, most of present magnetic confinement fusion experiments, such as tokamaks, operate with deuterium only. When tritium introduced in the system - besides the appearance of fusion-born alpha particles - the effective isotope mass of the plasma species is changed. From the plasma physics point of view, the main difference when the isotope mass is modified is the change in ion Larmor radius. This influences the transport in the plasma, thereby affects the confinement and fusion performance. The aim of this research is to run tokamak experiments with different isotopes (hydrogen, deuterium and tritium) and understand how the effect of different isotope mass modifies the plasma behaviour at the plasma edge. At the first stage, pure hydrogen and deuterium plasmas are compared which shows that the energy confinement time increases with the isotope mass. The behaviour of Edge Localised Modes (ELMs) is different in hydrogen and deuterium which most likely contribute to the typically low density observed in hydrogen plasmas. |
| Exploitation Route | Understanding the isotope effect is crucial to predict the performance of future fusion devices. Thus, the findings presented here might be taken into account in predictive simulations in the near future. |
| Sectors | Energy |