Introduction
How will the actively cooled tungsten components of the Iter divertor behave after hours of plasma discharge?
Can plasmas with damaged components be produced?
How can the monitoring system be optimized for these components?
These are the questions that will be given priority by the teams of the WEST Project for the sake of facilitating the use of ITER’s future divertor.
Well beyond the questions linked to the divertor components, WEST will enable its teams to explore the issues involved in plasma physics over long periods of time in a tungsten environment thanks to its unique capacities concerning its pulse durations. One the programme’s objectives will be to study the Iter baseline (the H mode) over long periods of time, by tackling in particular the problem of controlling the contamination of the plasma caused by tungsten.
In its second phase of scientific operation, WEST will be keeping an eye on the long term and fusion reactor physics by developing “advanced regimes” (better containment of the plasma) especially in providing support to the JT-60SA machine within the framework of the “Broader Approach” collaboration between Europe and Japan.
The WEST Project scientific programme will focus on 4 main areas of research:
– Tungsten component testing for Iter
– Extending the H mode to long pulse durations
– Plasma/Wall Interactions at high flux
– Development of Advanced Scenarios
