Journal Article

Integration of full divertor detachment with improved core confinement for tokamak fusion plasmas

Qian, J. P., Hyatt, A. W., Liu, J. B., Garofalo, A. M., Wang, H. Q., Humphreys, D. A., Gong, X. Z., Weisberg, D. B., Ren, Q. L., Buttery, R. J., Shafer, M. W., Wang, L., Thomas, D. M., Leonard, A. W., Eldon, D., Zhang, B., Lasnier, C. J., Xu, G. S., Guo, H. Y., Fenstermacher, M. E., Watkins, J. G., Ding, S., McClenaghan, J., Huang, J.

2021

Overview

Divertor detachment offers a promising solution to the challenge of plasma-wall interactions for steady-state operation of fusion reactors. Here, we demonstrate the excellent compatibility of actively controlled full divertor detachment with a high-performance ( β N ~ 3, H 98 ~ 1.5) core plasma, using high-β p (poloidal beta, β p  > 2) scenario characterized by a sustained core internal transport barrier (ITB) and a modest edge transport barrier (ETB) in DIII-D tokamak. The high- β p high-confinement scenario facilitates divertor detachment which, in turn, promotes the development of an even stronger ITB at large radius with a weaker ETB. This self-organized synergy between ITB and ETB, leads to a net gain in energy confinement, in contrast to the net confinement loss caused by divertor detachment in standard H-modes. These results show the potential of integrating excellent core plasma performance with an efficient divertor solution, an essential step towards steady-state operation of reactor-grade plasmas. Plasma fusion devices like tokamaks are important for energy generation but there are many challenges for their steady state operation. Here, the authors show that full divertor detachment is compatible with high-confinement high-poloidal-beta core plasmas and this prevents the damage to the divertor target plates and the first wall.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 639/4077/4091/4093 / 639/766/1960/1136 / 639/766/930 / 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY / Confinement / Damage prevention / Fusion reactors / Humanities and Social Sciences / Magnetically confined plasmas / multidisciplinary / Nuclear fusion and fission / Plasma / Plasmas (physics) / Reactors / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Steady state / Techniques and instrumentation / Tokamak devices