DEMO ion cyclotron heating: status of ITER-type antenna design

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current status of the DEMO ion cyclotron radio frequency (ICRF) antenna design, highlighting adaptations from ITER systems, modeling efforts, and future development plans for effective plasma heating.

Contribution

It presents the pre-conceptual design of the DEMO ICRF antenna, including innovative solutions and modeling benchmarks, advancing the development of fusion reactor heating systems.

Findings

Successful modeling of the largest ICRF antenna in RAPLICASOL

Benchmarking results with TOPICA confirm design validity

Design adaptations for DEMO-specific requirements

Abstract

The ITER ICRF system will gain in complexity relative to the existing systems on modern devices, and the same will hold true for DEMO. The accumulated experience can help greatly in designing an ICRF system for DEMO. In this paper the current status of the pre-conceptual design of the DEMO ICRF antenna and some related components is presented. While many aspects strongly resemble the ITER system, in some design solutions we had to take an alternative route to be able to adapt to DEMO specific. One of the key points is the toroidal antenna extent needed for the requested ICRF heating performance, achieved by splitting the antenna in halves, with appropriate installation. Modelling of the so far largest ICRF antenna in RAPLICASOL and associated challenges are presented. Calculation are benchmarked with TOPICA. Results of the analysis of the latest model and an outlook for future steps are given.