A new ICRF scenario for bulk ion heating in D-T plasmas: How to utilize intrinsic impurities in fusion devices in our favour

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel RF heating scenario in D-T plasmas that leverages intrinsic Beryllium impurities to efficiently heat bulk ions, potentially replacing the need for additional 3He puffing in fusion reactors.

Contribution

The study introduces a new RF heating method utilizing intrinsic impurities, specifically Beryllium, for bulk ion heating in D-T plasmas, eliminating the need for extra 3He puffing.

Findings

Beryllium impurities can be effectively heated using RF waves.

The proposed method achieves greater fuel ion heating than traditional 3He puffing.

The scenario simplifies plasma heating processes in fusion devices.

Abstract

A fusion reactor requires plasma pre-heating before the rate of deuterium-tritium fusion reactions becomes significant. In ITER, radiofrequency (RF) heating of 3He ions, additionally puffed into the plasma, is one of the main options considered for increasing bulk ion temperature during the ramp-up phase of the pulse. In this paper, we propose an alternative scenario for bulk ion heating with RF waves, which requires no extra 3He puff and profits from the presence of intrinsic Beryllium impurities in the plasma. The discussed method to heat Be impurities in D-T plasmas is shown to provide an even larger fraction of fuel ion heating.