Nuclear fusion power delivered by magnetic-confinement tokamak reactors holds the promise of sustainable and clean energy1. The avoidance of large-scale plasma instabilities called disruptions within these reactors2,3 is one of the most pressing challenges4,5, because disruptions can halt power production and damage key components. Disruptions are particularly harmful for large burning-plasma systems such as the multibillion-dollar International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project6 currently under construction, which aims to be the first reactor that produces more power from fusion than is injected to heat the plasma. Here we present a method based on deep learning for forecasting disruptions. Our method extends considerably the capabilities of previous strategies such as first-principles-based5 and classical machine-learning7–11 approaches. In particular, it delivers reliable predictions for machines other than the one on which it was trained—a crucial requirement for future large reactors that cannot afford training disruptions. Our approach takes advantage of high-dimensional training data to boost predictive performance while also engaging supercomputing resources at the largest scale to improve accuracy and speed. Trained on experimental data from the largest tokamaks in the United States (DIII-D12) and the world (Joint European Torus, JET13), our method can also be applied to specific tasks such as prediction with long warning times: this opens up the possibility of moving from passive disruption prediction to active reactor control and optimization. These initial results illustrate the potential for deep learning to accelerate progress in fusion-energy science and, more generally, in the understanding and prediction of complex physical systems. Using data from plasma-based tokamak nuclear reactors in the US and Europe, a machine-learning approach based on deep neural networks is taught to forecast disruptions, even those in machines on which the algorithm was not trained.

Predicting disruptive instabilities in controlled fusion plasmas through deep learning

Plasma-surface interaction in the Be/W environment: Conclusions drawn from the JET-ILW for ITER

The 2014-2016 JET results are reviewed in the light of their significance for optimising the ITER research plan for the active and non-active operation. More than 60 h of plasma operation with ITER first wall materials successfully took place since its installation in 2011. New multi-machine scaling of the type I-ELM divertor energy flux density to ITER is supported by first principle modelling. ITER relevant disruption experiments and first principle modelling are reported with a set of three disruption mitigation valves mimicking the ITER setup. Insights of the L-H power threshold in Deuterium and Hydrogen are given, stressing the importance of the magnetic configurations and the recent measurements of fine-scale structures in the edge radial electric. Dimensionless scans of the core and pedestal confinement provide new information to elucidate the importance of the first wall material on the fusion performance. H-mode plasmas at ITER triangularity (H = 1 at β N ∼ 1.8 and n/n GW ∼ 0.6) have been sustained at 2 MA during 5 s. The ITER neutronics codes have been validated on high performance experiments. Prospects for the coming D-T campaign and 14 MeV neutron calibration strategy are reviewed.

/pdf/overview-of-the-jet-results-in-support-to-iter-rt5lvghnre.pdf

Overview of the JET results in support to ITER

Plasma operation with an all metal first-wall: Comparison of an ITER-like wall with a carbon wall in JET

The behaviour of tungsten in the core of hybrid scenario plasmas in JET with the ITER-like wall is analysed and modelled with a combination of neoclassical and gyrokinetic codes In these discharges, good confinement conditions can be maintained only for the first 2?3?s of the high power phase Later W accumulation is regularly observed, often accompanied by the onset of magneto-hydrodynamical activity, in particular neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs), both of which have detrimental effects on the global energy confinement The dynamics of the accumulation process is examined, taking into consideration the concurrent evolution of the background plasma profiles, and the possible onset of NTMs Two time slices of a representative discharge, before and during the accumulation process, are analysed with two independent methods, in order to reconstruct the W density distribution over the poloidal cross-section The same time slices are modelled, computing both neoclassical and turbulent transport components and consistently including the impact of centrifugal effects, which can be significant in these plasmas, and strongly enhance W neoclassical transport The modelling closely reproduces the observations and identifies inward neoclassical convection due to the density peaking of the bulk plasma in the central region as the main cause of the accumulation The change in W neoclassical convection is directly produced by the transient behaviour of the main plasma density profile, which is hollow in the central region in the initial part of the high power phase of the discharge, but which develops a significant density peaking very close to the magnetic axis in the later phase The analysis of a large set of discharges provides clear indications that this effect is generic in this scenario The unfavourable impact of the onset of NTMs on the W behaviour, observed in several discharges, is suggested to be a consequence of a detrimental combination of the effects of neoclassical transport and of the appearance of an island

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0029-5515/54/8/083028/pdf

Tungsten transport in JET H-mode plasmas in hybrid scenario, experimental observations and modelling

This paper reports the successful installation of the JET ITER-like wall and the realization of its technical objectives. It also presents an overview of the planned experimental programme which has been optimized to exploit the new wall and other JET enhancements in 2011/12.

/pdf/jet-iter-like-wall-overview-and-experimental-programme-2fe48bibeb.pdf

G. Sips

Papers

JET ITER-like wall - overview and experimental programme

The JET technology program in support of ITER