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Axisymmetric study of re-avalanche effect and Multiple Runaway Beam Terminations of a mitigated ITER disruption using JOREK
Oral
Trivesh Kant (Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, India)
F J Artola, Amit K Singh, Indranil Bandyopadhyay
Abstract
Post-disruption runaway electrons (RE), generated via the avalanche mechanism after being
accelerated in the presence of the parallel electric field produced during the thermal quench
(TQ), are of major concern for large-scale reactors such as ITER. They can lead to the
formation of multi-megaampere (MA) RE beams, which, upon deconfinement due to magnetic
stochasticity, may cause more severe damage onto plasma facing components (PFCs) as
compared to electromagnetic (EM) loads generated during the current quench (CQ) [1,2,3].
This work investigates multiple RE beam terminations and the re-avalanche phenomenon,
between terminations of a vertically unstable plasma column, using a 2D axisymmetric fluid
model of nonlinear MHD JOREK code [4]. Additionally, the avalanche gain is estimated to
vary significantly with the neon (Ne) injection fraction and to increase exponentially with
higher Ne fractions [5]. Multiple cycles of RE beam termination and subsequent re-avalanching
are observed when MHD stability limits are approached (q₉₅ ≈ 2). These repeated termination
(re-avalanche) events depend sensitively on parameters such as the Ne injection
fraction, the post-termination current, the critical safety factor (q₉₅) required to trigger
termination, and the perpendicular RE diffusion coefficient between successive terminations.
RE beam termination is modelled through enhanced perpendicular diffusion to emulate radial
losses due to magnetic stochasticity in a 2D framework, resulting in rapid RE deconfinement
on a millisecond timescale (~0.6 ms). During the deconfinement, a significant fraction of the
magnetic energy, converted into kinetic energy, may be locally deposited onto PFCs. The resulting RE energy deposition on PFCs has also been quantified, along with the identification of the most affected first-wall panels. These findings underscore the importance of understanding RE termination physics for effective disruption mitigation in ITER.
References:
[1] J.R. Martín-Solís et al 2025 Nucl. Fusion 65 076009
[2] V. Bandaru, et al J. Plasma Phys. (2025), vol. 91, E27.
[3] O. Vallhagen et al 2024 Nucl. Fusion 64 086033.
[4] V. Bandaru, et al Phys. Plasmas 31, 082503 (2024)
[5] L. Hesslow et al 2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 084004.