Modeling of tungsten transport in the WEST tokamak with the gyrokinetic code XGC

Tokamak physics in a tungsten environment is a critical topic of research, as tungsten impurities cause radiative collapses and disruptions of the plasmas. Tungsten physics is studied in WEST plasmas [1] with the XGC code [2,3]. WEST is the transformation of the Tore Supra tokamak from a limiter to a divertor configuration in a full tungsten environment relevant to the most recent ITER scenario. Neoclassical and turbulent transport of tungsten ions (and of the main plasma) will be discussed. Reduction of neoclassical tungsten peaking in presence of Nitrogen will be presented. Modeled heat load width will be compared to experimental one. Tungsten neoclassical transport will be compared to FACIT [4,5] and the turbulent transport will be compared to quasi-linear modeling by Qualikiz [6]. Finally, we will present the most recent XGC simulations of WEST plasmas in which the many ionization states of tungsten are modeled with gyrokinetic bundles [7,8] including atomic interaction based on ADAS rates.

[1] Bourdelle et al (2015) Nuclear Fusion, 55 (6) 063017

[2] Dominski et al (2019) Journal of Plasma Physics 85 (5) 905850510

[3] Dominski et al 27th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2018) 22–27 October 2018, Gandhinagar India

[4] Maget et al. (2020) Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 62(10):105001

[5] Fajardo et al (2022) Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 64(5):055017

[6] Bourdelle et al (2007) Physics of Plasmas, 14(11):112501

[7] Dominski et al 46th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, 7-12 July 2019, Milan Italy.

[8] Dominski et al "Neoclassical transport of tungsten ion bundles in total-f neoclassical gyrokinetic simulations of a whole-volume JET-like plasma" submitted, arXiv:2306.13145