Core–Edge Integration and Power Exhaust in Tokamaks
Abstract: Developing a core-edge solution for power handling while maintaining high core performance in tokamaks is a critical path toward practical fusion energy. This requires dissipating the heat and particles flowing towards the wall without reducing the performance of the core. Core-edge compatibility scenarios will be discussed with emphasis on the integration of high radiative scenario with detachment in different configurations. Since the ability to understand and control impurities in the plasma is vital for the operation of future devices and the achievement of a core-edge solution, the balance between mitigated divertor heat flux against core contamination will be discussed. The effect of different radiators and the impurity transport mechanism will be presented.
Bio: Prof. Livia Casali is an Assistant Professor and Zinkle Faculty Fellow at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville UTK. She joined UTK from General Atomics where she worked as a Staff Scientist on the DIII-D tokamak in San Diego. Dr. Casali is the recipient of the Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy and an ITER Research Scientist Fellow. She leads the core-edge integration area for the DIII-D tokamak among other leadership positions. Her work is focused on boundary physics and core-edge integrated solutions with special emphasis on the role of radiative divertor and impurity behavior to achieve high performance operating scenarios with mitigated heat power loads which are essential for future fusion reactors. She works on both experiments and computational modeling. She led the first impurity seeding experiments in the slot divertor at DIII-D and delivered the first SOLPS-ITER simulations with multi-impurities and plasma drifts activated for DIII-D. More recently, she led the first high radiation experiments in the DIII-D negative triangularity campaign. She received her PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching and the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. For her PhD work, she was awarded the EPS/PPCF prize and from the Italian Physics Society she received the award for highly proficient scientific activity entitled to “Pietro Blaserna,” the founder of the Italian Physics Society.
