Tritium minority heating with mode conversion of fast waves

Journal Article · Thu Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3459943· OSTI ID:21389121

Castaldo, Carmine; Cardinali, Alessandro ^[1]

---

1. Euratom ENEA Association, Via Enrico Fermi 45, CP65, 00044 Frascati (Rome) (Italy)

A new ion-heating scenario in tokamak plasmas, based on cyclotron damping of ion Bernstein waves (IBWs) by tritium minority at the first ion cyclotron harmonic (i.e., omega=2OMEGA{sub cT}), is proposed. The IBWs are coupled by mode conversion of fast magnetosonic waves in a D-H(T) (tritium minority in hydrogen-deuterium) plasma. The mode conversion layer is located near the center of the plasma column as well as the resonant layer of the tritium minority. A possible scenario for the JET (Joint European Torus) tokamak [J. Wesson, JET Report No. 99, 1999], based on the present idea, has been analyzed by means of the numerical codes TORIC and SSFPQL (toroidal ion cyclotron and steady state Fokker-Planck quasilinear) [M. Brambilla, Nucl. Fusion 34, 1121 (1994); Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 41, 1 (1999)]. As a result, tritium ions are accelerated up to energies close to the peak value of the DT cross section and steady state breakeven condition (Qapprox =1.3) can be reached with 25% minority tritium concentration.

• OSTI ID: 21389121
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 17; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BERNSTEIN MODE
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BREAKEVEN
CHARGED PARTICLES
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
CONFINEMENT
DEUTERIUM
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ENERGY BALANCE
EQUATIONS
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
HEATING
HIGH-FREQUENCY HEATING
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
IONS
ISOTOPES
JET TOKAMAK
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAGNETOACOUSTIC WAVES
MODE CONVERSION
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OSCILLATION MODES
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA HEATING
PLASMA WAVES
RADIOISOTOPES
STABLE ISOTOPES
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TRITIUM
TRITIUM IONS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES