Benchmarks of depletion and decay heat calculation between MENDEL and MARBLE

Yokoyama, Kenji; Lahaye, S.*

Proceedings of Joint International Conference on Supercomputing in Nuclear Applications + Monte Carlo 2020 (SNA + MC 2020), p.109 - 116, 2020/10

CEA/DEN/DM2S/SERMA and JAEA/NSEC are working on benchmarks for burnup, isotopic concentrations and decay heat calculations in the collaboration framework between both organisms. Both actors of this benchmark are independently developing their own simulation code systems for computing quantities of interest in nuclear fuel cycle domain: MENDEL in CEA and MARBLE in JAEA. The purpose of the benchmark is to verify each system by comparing both calculation results on specific applications. MENDEL uses a several solvers for the resolution of Bateman equation. Runge-Kutta method or Chebyshev Rational Approximation method (CRAM) are used for irradiation computations. An analytical solver can also be used for decay calculations. MARBLE can use Krylov subspace method or CRAM method. As the first phase of the benchmark, we compared the calculated results of decay heat and isotropic concentrations following by a Pu-239 fast fission pulse. We applied nuclear data from three libraries: (1) JEFF-3.1.1, (2) JENDL/DDF-2015 + JENDL/FPY-2011, and (3) ENDF/B-VII.1. Nuclear data and burnup chain were generated from these libraries independently on each system. We confirmed that the results for both systems were in very good agreement with each other. Numerical results were also compared to experimental data. As the second phase of the benchmark, we are proceeding with a burnup calculation benchmark of MENDEL and MARBLE using the nuclear data and burnup chain provided by ORLIBJ33, which is a set of cross-section data based on JENDL-3.3 for ORIGEN-2 code system. We will also compare with calculation results by the ORIGEN-2 code with ORLIBJ33. Since the series of ORLIB, that is, ORLIBJ32, ORLIBJ33, and ORLIBJ40, have been widely used especially in Japan for many years, the comparison with ORLIB is effective for confirming the performance of MENDEL and MARBLE.

ITER test blanket module error field simulation experiments at DIII-D

Schaffer, M. J.*; Snipes, J. A.*; Gohil, P.*; de Vries, P.*; Evans, T. E.*; Fenstermacher, M. E.*; Gao, X.*; Garofalo, A. M.*; Gates, D. A.*; Greenfield, C. M.*; et al.

Nuclear Fusion, 51(10), p.103028_1 - 103028_11, 2011/10

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/51/10/103028

Experiments at DIII-D investigated the effects of ferromagnetic error fields similar to those expected from proposed ITER Test Blanket Modules (TBMs). Studied were effects on: plasma rotation and locking; confinement; L-H transition; edge localized mode (ELM) suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations; ELMs and the H-mode pedestal; energetic particle losses; and more. The experiments used a 3-coil mock-up of 2 magnetized ITER TBMs in one ITER equatorial port. The experiments did not reveal any effect likely to preclude ITER operations with a TBM-like error field. The largest effect was slowed plasma toroidal rotation v across the entire radial profile by as much as via non-resonant braking. Changes to global , and were 3 times smaller. These effects are stronger at higher and lower . Other effects were smaller.

Plasma models for real-time control of advanced tokamak scenarios

Moreau, D.*; Mazon, D.*; Walker, M. L.*; Ferron, J. R.*; Flanagan, S. M.*; Gohil, P.*; Groebner, R. J.*; La Haye, R. J.*; Schuster, E.*; Ou, Y.*; et al.

Proceedings of 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2010) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2010/10

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/FEC/FEC2010/html/node180.htm#40014

Progress in the ITER physics basis, 3; MHD stability, operational limits and disruptions

Hender, T. C.*; Wesley, J. C.*; Bialek, J.*; Bondeson, A.*; Boozer, A. H.*; Buttery, R. J.*; Garofalo, A.*; Goodman, T. P.*; Granetz, R. S.*; Gribov, Y.*; et al.

Nuclear Fusion, 47(6), p.S128 - S202, 2007/06

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/47/6/S03

no abstracts in English

Evaluating electron cyclotron current drive stabilization of neoclassical tearing modes in ITER; Implications of experiments in ASDEX upgrade, DIII-D, JET, and JT-60U

La Haye, R. J.*; Prater, R.*; Buttery, R. J.*; Hayashi, Nobuhiko; Isayama, Akihiko; Maraschek, M. E.*; Urso, L.*; Zohm, H.*

Proceedings of 21st IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2006) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2007/03

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/FEC/FEC2006/html/node490.htm#97368

Resistive neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) islands will be the principal limit on stability and performance in ITER as beta is well below the ideal kink limit. NTM island control in ITER is predicted to be challenging both because of the relatively narrower marginal island widths and the relatively broader electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD). Measurements from ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D, and JET in beta rampdown experiments are used to determine the marginal island size for m/n=3/2 NTM removal. This is compared to data from ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D and JT-60U with elimination of the m/n=3/2 island by continuous ECCD at near constant beta. The empirical marginal island size is consistent in both sets of removal experiments and found to be about twice the ion banana width. A common methodology is developed for fitting the saturated m/n=3/2 island before (or without) ECCD in all four experimental devices. To this is added (and model tested to experiments) the effect of unmodulated co-ECCD on island stabilization including both replacing the missing bootstrap current and making the classical tearing stability index more negative. The experimentally benchmarked model is then used to evaluate ITER. The ITER ECCD upper launcher with up to 20 MW of injected power is appraised with or without modulation for both the m/n=3/2 mode and the m/n=2/1 NTM (which can lock to the resistive wall and induce disruption). An m/n=2/1 rotating island model with drag from eddy current induced in the resistive wall is used to predict the necessary ECCD to keep the island from locking as a function of the rotation in ITER. The planned relatively wide ECCD should be capable of regulating the island width to avoid mode locking with the anticipated rotation in ITER but there is little margin available for inevitable misalignment. Narrower ECCD of more power and/or more rotation in ITER would increase confidence in island control and successful operation.

Cross-machine benchmarking for ITER of neoclassical tearing mode stabilization by electron cyclotron current drive

La Haye, R. J.*; Prater, R.*; Buttery, R. J.*; Hayashi, Nobuhiko; Isayama, Akihiko; Maraschek, M. E.*; Urso, L.*; Zohm, H.*

Nuclear Fusion, 46(4), p.451 - 461, 2006/04

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/46/4/006

no abstracts in English

MHD limits to tokamak operation and their control

Zohm, H.*; Gantenbein, G.*; Isayama, Akihiko; Keller, A.*; La Haye, R. J.*; Maraschek, M.*; Mck, A.*; Nagasaki, Kazunobu*; Pinches, S. D.*; Strait, E. J.*

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 45(12A), p.A163 - A173, 2003/12

https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/45/12A/012

A review of magnetohydrodynamic limits to tokamak operation in terms of current, density and pressure is given. Although the current and density limits in a tokamak usually lead to disruptive termination of the discharge, it is argued that these can be avoided by staying away from the respective limits. This is especially true since operation close to these limits is not really desirable, due to the decreased confinement at very high density and the high disruptivity at low q. On the other hand, the limit to plasma pressure set by neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) and resistive wall modes (RWMs) is too low to guarantee economic operation of future fusion reactors. Therefore, active control of these two instabilities is now being studied. Noticeable progress has been made by NTM stabilization with ECCD. Avoidance of NTMs and RWMs by tailoring sawteeth and spinning the plasma, shows promising results. Also, experiments on direct RWM stabilization by active coils are showing their first encouraging results.