December 2022

Journal

OEDGE modeling of far-SOL tungsten impurity sources and screening in WEST

By:
Maeker, Jake B; Nichols, Jacob H; Donovan, David C; Grosjean, Alex; Gunn, J. P.; Fedorczak, N.; Guillemaut, Christopher; Klepper, Conrad ; Unterberg, Ezekial A; Easley, Davis C
Journal Name:
Nuclear Materials and Energy
Page Number:
101309
Volume:
33
Issue Number:
1
Publication Date:
December 12, 2022
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2022.101309

Abstract

The plasma background and impurity transport in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of the WEST tokamak are modeled for three discharges over a Psep power scan ranging between 1.5 and 2.35 MW. An extended modeling grid is used to investigate far-SOL sourcing from the WEST baffle and lower divertor. Divertor Langmuir probe data at the targets and upstream data from reciprocating Langmuir probes and interferometry/reflectometry is used to create a simulated background plasma with the OSM and EIRENE codes. W-I spectroscopic data from WEST at the lower divertor and baffle is used to estimate the sputtered W flux as an input to the impurity transport code DIVIMP. A potential mechanism for far-SOL impurities from the baffle to transport into the near-SOL is proposed and discussed in terms of the model’s force balances. Analysis of simulated impurity transport showed similar impurity density at the separatrix for the mid and high-power cases despite the high-power case having 10% more sputtered W. This is explained by the combination of differing trends in the sourcing and screening with scaling power.