On the minimum transport required to passively suppress runaway electrons in SPARC disruptions
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

In Izzo et al (2022 Nucl. Fusion 62 096029), state-of-the-art modeling of thermal and current quench (CQ) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) coupled with a self-consistent evolution of runaway electron (RE) generation and transport showed that a non-axisymmetric (n = 1) in-vessel coil could passively prevent RE beam formation during disruptions in SPARC, a compact high-field tokamak projected to achieve a fusion gain Q > 2 in DT plasmas. However, such suppression requires finite transport of REs within magnetic islands and re-healed flux surfaces; conservatively assuming zero transport in these regions leads to an upper bound of RE current ∼ 1 M A compared to ∼ 8.7 M A of pre-disruption plasma current. Further investigation finds that core-localized electrons, within r / a < 0.3 and with kinetic energies ∼ 0.2 - 15 M e V , contribute most to the RE plateau formation. Yet only a relatively small amount of transport, i.e. a diffusion coefficient ∼ 18 m 2 s − 1 , is needed in the core to fully mitigate these REs. Properly accounting for (a) the CQ electric field’s effect on RE transport in islands and (b) the contribution of significant RE currents to disruption MHD may help achieve this.

disruptions

transport

runaway electrons

passive mitigation

SPARC

Författare

R. A. Tinguely

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Istvan Pusztai

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär, högenergi- och plasmafysik

V. Izzo

Fiat Lux

K. Sarkimaki

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Tünde-Maria Fülöp

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär, högenergi- och plasmafysik

D. T. Garnier

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

R. S. Granetz

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

M. Hoppe

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)

C. Paz-Soldan

Columbia University

Andréas Sundström

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär, högenergi- och plasmafysik

R. Sweeney

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

0741-3335 (ISSN) 1361-6587 (eISSN)

Vol. 65 3 034002

Skenande elektroner i fusionsplasmor

Vetenskapsrådet (VR) (2018-03911), 2018-12-01 -- 2021-12-31.

Ämneskategorier

Annan fysik

Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik

Den kondenserade materiens fysik

DOI

10.1088/1361-6587/acb083

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2023-02-13