A new algorithm to determine the total radiated power at ASDEX upgrade

Radiation is an essential part of the power balance in a fusion plasma. In future fusion devices about 90% of the power will have to be dissipated, mainly by radiation. For the development of an appropriate operational scenario, information about the absolute level of plasma radiation (P_rad,tot) is crucial. Bolometers are used to measure the radiated power, however, an algorithm is required to derive the absolute power out of many line-integrated measurements. The currently used algorithm (BPD) was developed for the main chamber radiation. It underestimates the divertor radiation as its basic assumptions are not satisfied in this region. Therefore, a new P_rad,tot algorithm is presented. It applies an Abel inversion on the main chamber and uses empirically based assumptions for poloidal asymmetries and the divertor radiation. To benchmark the new algorithm, synthetic emissivity profiles are used. On average, the new Abel inversion based algorithm deviates by only 10% from the nominal synthetic value while BPD is about 25% too low. With both codes time traces of ASDEX Upgrade discharges are calculated. The analysis of these time traces shows that the underestimation of the divertor radiation can have significant consequences on the accuracy of BPD while the new algorithm is shown to be stable.