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Title: Recent progress in shattered pellet injection technology in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system*

Abstract

Shattered pellet injection (SPI) has been selected as the baseline technology for the disruption mitigation (DM) system for ITER. Typical SPI utilizes cryogenic cooling to desublimate low pressure (<100 mbar) gases onto a cold zone within a pipe gun barrel, forming a cylindrical pellet. Pellets are dislodged from the barrel and accelerated using either a gas driven mechanical punch or high-pressure light-gas delivered by a fast-opening valve. SPI technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is currently deployed and operational on DIII-D, JET, and KSTAR. These SPI systems are used in experiments for physics scaling to ITER thermal mitigation and runaway electron dissipation/avoidance. The pellet sizes used for these machines are in the range of 4 to 12.5 mm in diameter with length to diameter ratios (L/D) of ~1.5. The current plan for ITER SPI is to utilize pellets that are 28.5 mm in diameter with an L/D of ~2. Furthermore, the large pellet sizes, high steady-state magnetic fields, and limitations of operating in a radiation environment render much of the current technology unusable. In addition to technology improvements, a deeper understanding of pellet material properties, formation, and release is being developed for implementation in future SPI designs, specifically ITER.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1820806
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Fusion
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 61; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5515
Publisher:
IOP Science
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Gebhart III, Trey, Baylor, Larry, Ericson, Milton, Meitner, Steven, Qualls, A L., and Rasmussen, David. Recent progress in shattered pellet injection technology in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system*. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ac1bc4.
Gebhart III, Trey, Baylor, Larry, Ericson, Milton, Meitner, Steven, Qualls, A L., & Rasmussen, David. Recent progress in shattered pellet injection technology in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system*. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ac1bc4
Gebhart III, Trey, Baylor, Larry, Ericson, Milton, Meitner, Steven, Qualls, A L., and Rasmussen, David. Thu . "Recent progress in shattered pellet injection technology in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system*". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ac1bc4. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1820806.
@article{osti_1820806,
title = {Recent progress in shattered pellet injection technology in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system*},
author = {Gebhart III, Trey and Baylor, Larry and Ericson, Milton and Meitner, Steven and Qualls, A L. and Rasmussen, David},
abstractNote = {Shattered pellet injection (SPI) has been selected as the baseline technology for the disruption mitigation (DM) system for ITER. Typical SPI utilizes cryogenic cooling to desublimate low pressure (<100 mbar) gases onto a cold zone within a pipe gun barrel, forming a cylindrical pellet. Pellets are dislodged from the barrel and accelerated using either a gas driven mechanical punch or high-pressure light-gas delivered by a fast-opening valve. SPI technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is currently deployed and operational on DIII-D, JET, and KSTAR. These SPI systems are used in experiments for physics scaling to ITER thermal mitigation and runaway electron dissipation/avoidance. The pellet sizes used for these machines are in the range of 4 to 12.5 mm in diameter with length to diameter ratios (L/D) of ~1.5. The current plan for ITER SPI is to utilize pellets that are 28.5 mm in diameter with an L/D of ~2. Furthermore, the large pellet sizes, high steady-state magnetic fields, and limitations of operating in a radiation environment render much of the current technology unusable. In addition to technology improvements, a deeper understanding of pellet material properties, formation, and release is being developed for implementation in future SPI designs, specifically ITER.},
doi = {10.1088/1741-4326/ac1bc4},
journal = {Nuclear Fusion},
number = 10,
volume = 61,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 02 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Thu Sep 02 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

Works referenced in this record:

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Injection of multiple shattered pellets for disruption mitigation in DIII-D
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Analysis of the Shattered Pellet Injection Fragment Plumes Generated by Machine Specific Shatter Tube Designs
journal, December 2020


Experimental results of multiple shattered pellet injection systems in KSTAR
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A new disruption mitigation valve (DMV) and gas flow in guiding tubes of different diameter
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Design of a shattered pellet injection system on J-TEXT tokamak
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