Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on magnum PSI
Abstract
The lithium vapor box divertor is a potential solution for power exhaust in toroidal confinement devices. The divertor plasma interacts with a localized, dense cloud of lithium vapor, leading to volumetric radiation, cooling, recombination, and detachment. To minimize contamination of the core plasma, lithium vapor is condensed on cool (300–400°C) baffles upstream of the detachment point. Before implementing this in a toroidal plasma device with a slot divertor geometry, we consider an experiment with a scaled baffled-pipe geometry in the high-power linear plasma device Magnum-PSI. Three 15 cm-scale open cylinders joined by 6 cm diameter ‘nozzles’ are positioned on the plasma beam axis upstream of a target. Here, the central box may be loaded with several tens of grams of lithium, which can be evaporated at 650°C to produce a vapor predicted, using a simple plasma-neutral interaction model, to be dense enough to cause volumetric detachment in the plasma. The power delivered to the target and box walls as measured by increases in their temperatures after a 10 s plasma pulse can be compared to determine the effectiveness of the vapor in detaching the plasma. Direct Simulation Monte Carlo simulations are performed to estimate the flow rates of lithium vapormore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1547758
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1498791
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-09CH11466
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Nuclear Materials and Energy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Nuclear Materials and Energy Journal Volume: 18 Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 2352-1791
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- Netherlands
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Divertor; Lithium vapor
Citation Formats
Schwartz, Jacob A., Emdee, Eric D., Goldston, R. J., and Jaworski, M. A. Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on magnum PSI. Netherlands: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.nme.2019.01.024.
Schwartz, Jacob A., Emdee, Eric D., Goldston, R. J., & Jaworski, M. A. Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on magnum PSI. Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2019.01.024
Schwartz, Jacob A., Emdee, Eric D., Goldston, R. J., and Jaworski, M. A. Tue .
"Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on magnum PSI". Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2019.01.024.
@article{osti_1547758,
title = {Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on magnum PSI},
author = {Schwartz, Jacob A. and Emdee, Eric D. and Goldston, R. J. and Jaworski, M. A.},
abstractNote = {The lithium vapor box divertor is a potential solution for power exhaust in toroidal confinement devices. The divertor plasma interacts with a localized, dense cloud of lithium vapor, leading to volumetric radiation, cooling, recombination, and detachment. To minimize contamination of the core plasma, lithium vapor is condensed on cool (300–400°C) baffles upstream of the detachment point. Before implementing this in a toroidal plasma device with a slot divertor geometry, we consider an experiment with a scaled baffled-pipe geometry in the high-power linear plasma device Magnum-PSI. Three 15 cm-scale open cylinders joined by 6 cm diameter ‘nozzles’ are positioned on the plasma beam axis upstream of a target. Here, the central box may be loaded with several tens of grams of lithium, which can be evaporated at 650°C to produce a vapor predicted, using a simple plasma-neutral interaction model, to be dense enough to cause volumetric detachment in the plasma. The power delivered to the target and box walls as measured by increases in their temperatures after a 10 s plasma pulse can be compared to determine the effectiveness of the vapor in detaching the plasma. Direct Simulation Monte Carlo simulations are performed to estimate the flow rates of lithium vapor between the boxes and to estimate the trapping of H2 delivered by the plasma in the boxes, which could inadvertently lead to detachment. Details of the geometry, simulations, and possible diagnostic techniques are presented.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nme.2019.01.024},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1547758},
journal = {Nuclear Materials and Energy},
issn = {2352-1791},
number = C,
volume = 18,
place = {Netherlands},
year = {2019},
month = {1}
}
Figures / Tables:

Works referenced in this record:
Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on Magnum-PSI
dataset, January 2019
- Schwartz, Jacob; Emdee, Eric; Goldston, Robert
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Works referencing / citing this record:
Physics design for a lithium vapor box divertor experiment on Magnum-PSI
dataset, January 2019
- Schwartz, Jacob; Emdee, Eric; Goldston, Robert
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Figures / Tables found in this record: