Gallery

The aim of the ITER tokamak is to achieve a burning plasma and control it for 400 or even 600s. It means that dominated heating power will be generated in the fusion reactions. Controlling the plasma confinement requires monitoring power generation, fuel mix, plasma density and temperature. The products of the DD and DT fusion reactions are neutrons with energies of 2.5-MeV and 14-MeV, respectively. Neutrons carried out the unperturbed information about their source. Therefore, neutron measurement allows for fusion power determination.

The Radial Neutron Camera (RNC) for ITER aims at the time-resolved measurement of neutron emissivity distribution and associated fusion power density. The RNC will also provide information about ion temperature, fuel ratio and plasma position. The RNC will be located in the ITER Equatorial Port #01 and consist of two systems: in-port and ex-port. Both are composed of collimating structures with neutron detectors at the ends. The in-port part includes six detectors located in the port plug in the tokamak wall and observes plasma edges. The ex-port system probes the core plasma and is placed in a further position. The measurement along collimated lines of sight by 22 detectors allows for the reconstruction of the neutron emissivity over the plasma poloidal cross-section.

Diagnostic scheme

The RNC Consortium is close to finishing the design of the in-port part of the system and moving forward to the manufacturing. The team working on this diagnostic is led by ENEA and includes the IPPLM, IST and IFJ PAN. At the end of in-port collimators, two detectors will be placed in line: a single Crystal Diamond matrix (sCD) and a ²³⁸U Fission Chamber (FC). The preliminary design assumed a water cooling system for diamond detectors protection. Due to the strict ITER requirements, a high-temperature resistant sCD has been developed and tested. The elimination of the cooling system close to the tokamak wall reduces the safety risk. The fabrication of the port plug is planned to be completed in 2025.

Example of the tomographic accuracy		Example of the tomographic result

Source: IPPLM, https://fusionforenergy.europa.eu