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The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment: Mission and conceptual design

Journal Article · · Fusion Engineering and Design
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

Mastering Plasma Material Interactions (PMI) is key for obtaining a high performance, high duty-cycle and safe operating fusion reactor. Numerous gaps exist in PMI which have to be addressed before a reactor can be built. In particular the lack of data at high ion fluence, fusion reactor divertor relevant plasma conditions and neutron displacement damage requires new experimental devices to be able to develop plasma facing materials and components. This has been recognized in the community and the U.S. fusion program is addressing this need with a new linear plasma device—the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX). MPEX will be a superconducting linear plasma device with magnetic fields of up to 2.5 T. The plasma source is a high-power helicon source (200 kW, 13.56 MHz). The electrons will be heated via Electron Bernstein Waves with microwaves using multiple 70 GHz gyrotrons (up to 600 kW in total). Ions will be heated via ion cyclotron heating in the so-called “magnetic beach heating” scheme in the frequency range of 6–9 MHz (up to 400 kW in total). An overview of the conceptual design and the project/design requirements is given in this paper.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)
Contributing Organization:
MPEX Team
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1606925
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2325338
Journal Information:
Fusion Engineering and Design, Journal Name: Fusion Engineering and Design Journal Issue: C Vol. 156; ISSN 0920-3796
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (23)

Progress in magnet design activities for the material plasma exposure experiment journal November 2017
High-fluence and high-flux performance characteristics of the superconducting Magnum-PSI linear plasma facility journal May 2019
Transport simulations of linear plasma generators with the B2.5-Eirene and EMC3-Eirene codes journal August 2015
Helicon plasma ion temperature measurements and observed ion cyclotron heating in proto-MPEX journal January 2018
Differential pumping requirements for the light-ion helicon source and heating systems of Proto-MPEX journal August 2018
Observations of electron heating during 28 GHz microwave power application in proto-MPEX journal February 2018
An electron Bernstein wave heating scheme for the Proto-MPEX linear device journal July 2018
Evidence of electron heating at different radial locations on Proto-MPEX journal March 2019
Utilization of O-X-B mode conversion of 28 GHz microwaves to heat core electrons in the upgraded Proto-MPEX journal May 2019
Ion Fluxes and Neutral Gas Ionization Efficiency of the 100-kW Light-Ion Helicon Plasma Source Concept for the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment journal June 2019
Results of Ion Cyclotron Heating Experiments on Proto-MPEX Utilizing a Movable Stainless Steel Target journal June 2019
Reduction of divertor heat load in JET ELMy H-modes using impurity seeding techniques journal January 2004
Integrated scenario with type-III ELMy H-mode edge: extrapolation to ITER journal August 2009
Radiative type-III ELMy H-mode in all-tungsten ASDEX Upgrade journal November 2012
Scaling of the tokamak near the scrape-off layer H-mode power width and implications for ITER journal August 2013
Developing the science and technology for the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment journal July 2017
The Development of the Material Plasma Exposure Experiment journal December 2016
Design and Analysis of an Actively Cooled Window for a High-Power Helicon Plasma Source journal January 2019
The Materials Plasma Exposure eXperiment: Status of the Physics Basis Together With the Conceptual Design and Plans Forward journal June 2020
Conceptual Design and Performance Considerations for Superconducting Magnets in the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment journal June 2020
Plasma source development for fusion-relevant material testing
  • Caughman, John B. O.; Goulding, Richard H.; Biewer, Theodore M.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 35, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4982664
journal May 2017
The Development of Plasma-Material Interaction Facilities for the Future of Fusion Technology journal August 2013
Neutron-Irradiated Samples as Test Materials for MPEX journal November 2015

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