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Title: Integration of full divertor detachment with improved core confinement for tokamak fusion plasmas

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
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  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei (China)
  2. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei (China); Oak Ridge Associated Univ., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  5. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  6. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Divertor detachment offers a promising solution to the challenge of plasma-wall interactions for steady-state operation of fusion reactors. Here, we demonstrate the excellent compatibility of actively controlled full divertor detachment with a high-performance (βN ~ 3, H98 ~ 1.5) core plasma, using high-βp (poloidal beta, βp > 2) scenario characterized by a sustained core internal transport barrier (ITB) and a modest edge transport barrier (ETB) in DIII-D tokamak. The high-βp high-confinement scenario facilitates divertor detachment which, in turn, promotes the development of an even stronger ITB at large radius with a weaker ETB. This self-organized synergy between ITB and ETB, leads to a net gain in energy confinement, in contrast to the net confinement loss caused by divertor detachment in standard H-modes. These results show the potential of integrating excellent core plasma performance with an efficient divertor solution, an essential step towards steady-state operation of reactor-grade plasmas.

Research Organization:
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program of China
Grant/Contract Number:
FC02-04ER54698; AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525; AC52-07NA27344; SC0010685; 2017YFE0301300; 2017YFE0300404
OSTI ID:
1768382
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1845144; OSTI ID: 1871402
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-834527; TRN: US2206592
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 12, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Physics of increased edge electron temperature and density turbulence during ELM-free QH-mode operation on DIII-D journal May 2018
Hysteresis as a probe of turbulent bifurcation in intrinsic rotation reversals on Alcator C-Mod journal August 2019
Impact of centrifugal drifts on ion turbulent transport journal March 2018
The dominant micro-turbulence instabilities in the lower q 95 high β p plasmas on DIII-D and predict-first extrapolation journal November 2019
H-mode grade confinement in L-mode edge plasmas at negative triangularity on DIII-D journal April 2019
Key effects on the confinement improvement of the ASDEX Upgrade hybrid scenario journal September 2019
Verification of GENE and GYRO with L-mode and I-mode plasmas in Alcator C-Mod journal April 2018
Transport barriers in bootstrap-driven tokamaks journal May 2018
Reversal of turbulent gyroBohm isotope scaling due to nonadiabatic electron drive journal August 2019
Validation of gyrokinetic simulations of a National Spherical Torus eXperiment H-mode plasma and comparisons with a high- k scattering synthetic diagnostic journal October 2019
Improved linearized model collision operator for the highly collisional regime journal October 2019
Safety factor and turbulence dynamics dependence of the L-H power threshold on DIII-D journal June 2019
Gyrokinetic GENE simulations of DIII-D near-edge L-mode plasmas journal September 2019
Cross-verification of neoclassical transport solutions from XGCa against NEO journal October 2019