Development of a real-time system for ITER first wall heat load control

The steady state heat flux on the ITER first wall (FW) panels are limited by the heat removal capacity of the water cooling system. In case of off-normal events (e.g. plasma displacement during H-L transitions), the heat loads are predicted to exceed the design limits (2-4.7 MW/m$^2$). Intense heat loads are predicted on the FW, even well before the burning plasma phase. Thus, a real-time (RT) FW heat load control system is mandatory from early plasma operation of the ITER tokamak. A heat load estimator based on the RT equilibrium reconstruction has been developed for the plasma control system (PCS). A scheme, estimating the energy state for prescribed gaps defined as the distance between the last closed flux surface (LCFS)/separatrix and the FW is presented. The RT energy state is determined by the product of a weighted function of gap distance and the power crossing the plasma boundary. In addition, a heat load estimator assuming a simplified FW geometry and parallel heat transport model in the scrape-off layer (SOL), benchmarked against a full 3-D magnetic field line tracer is also presented.