MAE SEMINAR

The challenge of putting the sun in a box: plasma-material interactions in ITER

Greg De Temmerman, ITER Organization
November 2, 2018, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., EBU II Room 584

ABSTRACT:

ITER, currently being built in Southern France, aims at producing 500MW of output power for durations of 400s, thereby demonstrating the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power for peaceful purposes. In a fusion device, power from the core plasma has to be exhausted by the plasma-facing components, mainly in the divertor area, a special area of the plasma chamber where the open magnetic field lines intersect the primary plasma facing components and where the plasma is neutralized and pumped away.

The plasma-facing surfaces in the ITER divertor will be exposed to extreme heat (>10MW.m-2) and particle fluxes (up to 1024m-2s-1) for extended durations. The peak particle fluence will be orders of magnitude higher in ITER than that reached in current experiments. In addition, the frequent thermal cycling caused by edge-localized modes (ELMs), up to several GW.m−2 for 0.5–1ms, can lead to significant material damage (cracking, melting) and represent a serious concern for the lifetime of the plasma-facing components. Understanding the plasma-material interactions effects arising from such high fluences is necessary to prepare future ITER operations.

This talk will first give an update on the ITER construction, and then introduce the various challenges related to power exhaust and plasma-wall interactions in ITER with an emphasis on their consequences for the material specifications and operating conditions.

BIO:

Greg De Temmerman is a scientist working on nuclear fusion since the start of his PhD in 2003. He specializes in the study of the intense interactions between fusion plasmas and surrounding materials. He has worked in several laboratories including UCSD, CCFE (UK) and DIFFER (NL) before joining the ITER Organization in 2014 as a coordinating scientist for plasma edge and plasma-wall interactions, having the opportunity to contribute to this gigantic endeavor that the ITER project is. During his spare time he is also a passionate ultra-trail runner.