Impact of arcing on carbon and tungsten. From the observations in JT-60U, LHD, and NAGDIS-II

This paper assesses the impact of arcing in fusion devices based on the observations in JT-60U, LHD, and the linear divertor simulator NAGDIS-II. In NAGDIS-II, the demonstration experiments of arcing/unipolar arcing have been conducted by simulating the transient heat load using a pulsed laser; it was found that the arcing can be easily initiated on the helium irradiated nanostructured tungsten. By measuring the field emission current property from the helium irradiated tungsten surface, the initiation conditions are discussed. From the detailed analysis of JT-60U tiles, it is found that arcing phenomena occurred on carbon baffle plates. From the observation of the arc trails recorded on the baffle plate, the amount of the eroded materials is discussed. The arcing seemed to occur frequently on inner baffles rather than the outer baffles. From LHD, it is shown that the arcing can be initiated on nanostructured tungsten even without transient events. The erosion of tungsten by arcing will become an important issue in a fusion reactor, where helium fluence is significantly increased. (author)