Modeling of runaway electron damage for the design of tokamak plasma facing components.

摘要

Cracking, craters, spotty damage (discoloration), and missing chunks of material have been observed on limiters and along the midplane of tokamak inner walls. This damage is assumed to be due to runaway electron discharges. These runaway electrons have been predicted to range in energy from a few MeV to several hundred MeV. The energy density from the runaway electron discharges ranges from 10 to 500 MJ/m(sup 2) over pulse lengths of 5 to 50 msec. The PTA code package is a three dimensional, time dependent, computational code package used to predict energy deposition, temperature rise, and damage on tokamak first wall and limiter materials form runaway electron impact. Two experiments were modeled to validate the PTA code package. The first experiment tested the thermal and structural response from high energy electron impact on different fusion materials, and the second experiment simulated runaway electrons scattering through a plasma facing surface (graphite) into an internal structure (copper). The PTA calculations compared favorably with the experimental results. In particular, the PTA models identified gap conductance, thermal contact, x-ray generation in materials, and the placement of high stopping power materials as key factors in the design of plasma facing components, resistant to runaway electron damage. 9 refs., 7 figs. (ERA citation 15:033822)