• Energy Research

Integrating the plasma core performance with an edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) that leads to tolerable heat and particle loads on the wall is a major challenge. The new European medium size tokamak task force (EU-MST) coordinates research on ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), MAST and TCV. This multi-machine approach within EU-MST, covering a wide parameter range, is instrumental to progress in the field, as ITER and DEMO core/pedestal and SOL parameters are not achievable simultaneously in present day devices. A two prong approach is adopted. On the one hand, scenarios with tolerable transient heat and particle loads, including active edge localised mode (ELM) control are developed. On the other hand, divertor solutions including advanced magnetic configurations are studied. Considerable progress has been made on both approaches, in particular in the fields of: ELM control with resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP), small ELM regimes, detachment onset and control, as well as filamentary scrape-off-layer transport. For example full ELM suppression has now been achieved on AUG at low collisionality with n = 2 RMP maintaining good confinement HH(98, y2) 0.95. Advances have been made with respect to detachment onset and control. Studies in advanced divertor configurations (Snowflake, Super-X and X-point target divertor) shed new light on SOL physics. Cross field filamentary transport has been characterised in a wide parameter regime on AUG, MAST and TCV progressing the theoretical and experimental understanding crucial for predicting first wall loads in ITER and DEMO. Conditions in the SOL also play a crucial role for ELM stability and access to small ELM regimes.

Tungsten surface enrichment of EUROFER steel by 250 eV deuterium sputtering is in-situ measured using low energy He$^{+}$ ion scattering spectroscopy. The samples are irradiated at various temperatures between 300 K and 800 K with a deuterium atom flux of 2e18 m$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ and maximum fluence up to 1.1e23 m$^{-2}$. The measurements at room temperature show a clear increase of tungsten surface density, but already at 520 K the observed enrichment is only half as large. At a temperature of 800 K no tungsten surface enrichment is detectable. The obtained data allows to determine an upper limit of 1.6 eV for the diffusion activation energy of tungsten in EUROFER.

A reaction-diffusion model with surface occupation dependent desorption [D. Matveev et al., Nucl. Instr. Meth. B 430 (2018) 23–30] has been updated to handle multiple hydrogen species to simulate hydrogen/deuterium isotope-exchange experiments performed on polycrystalline beryllium samples under ultra-high vacuum laboratory conditions. In the experiments subsequent exposures of a sample to hydrogen and deuterium ion beams in direct and reverse implantation order were followed by thermal desorption spectroscopy measurements under a constant heating rate of 0.7 K/s. The recorded signals of masses 2 to 4 (H2, HD and D2) indicate that the second implanted isotope dominates clearly the low temperature release stage ( ≈ 450 K), while both isotopes show a comparable contribution to the high temperature desorption stage ( ≈ 700 K) with only minor effect of the implantation order attributed to a slightly deeper penetration of deuterium compared to hydrogen. Simulations of the implantation and subsequent thermal desorption of hydrogen isotopes are performed to assess the atomic processes behind the isotope-exchange. Simulations were performed under the assumption that the low temperature release stage is attributed to hydrogen/deuterium atoms retained on effective open surfaces (e.g. interconnected porosity) represented in the simulations by a surface with an effective surface area exceeding the nominal exposed surface area by a factor up to 100. Kinetic de-trapping from vacancies with multiple trapping levels and enhanced desorption at surface coverages close to saturation are addressed in the model as possible mechanisms promoting the isotope-exchange. Simulation results suggest the applicability of the model to describe isotope-exchange processes in crystalline beryllium and give a qualitative explanation of the observed experimental facts. Keywords: Beryllium, Isotope-exchange, Hydrogen retention, Reaction-diffusion, TDS