Ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) heating is one of the auxiliary heating schemes presently envisaged for ITER and DEMO. In this paper we analyse the potential of ICRF waves to heat the fuel ions in DEMO. Our analysis is carried out for the DEMO1 Reference Scenario from October 2013 (B = 6.8 T, I = 18.6 MA, R = 9.25 m, a = 2.64 m) optimized for a maximum pulse length of 2.3 hrs using the ICRF modelling codes PION and TORIC. We focus on second harmonic heating of tritium and fundamental minority heating of 3He ions (with a few percent of 3He) in a 50%:50% D-T plasma. The dependence of the ICRF characteristics and the ICRF-accelerated ions on the ICRF and plasma parameters is investigated, giving special attention to the DEMO design point at a core plasma temperature of 30 keV and an electron density of 1.2·1020 m−3.

This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 633053. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. We are grateful to Dr. R. Wenninger and Dipl.-Ing T. Franke (PPPT, Garching) for DEMO parameters. They are for the DEMO1 Reference Scenario from October 2013 optimised for a maximum pulse length of 2.3 hrs (with CD 2.7hrs)

Peer Reviewed