Last news from WEST tokamak: highlights about the divertor plasma facing components ageing
Abstract: WEST tokamak allows long pulse operation in the perspective of the burning plasma for fusion in representative metallic environment. ITER-Like divertor technology is notably operated since 2016 which gives the opportunity to study the progressive ageing of such divertor components. Here an overview of the damages observed “in-situ” and studied in WEST are reported. Fresh news from the recent worldwide records of WEST (1332s of plasma) is also proposed to be done.
Bio: Dr Alan Durif, is CEA research Engineer involved in material concern for fusion application since 2016. He graduated in engineering and material science, obtained a Ph.D in Solids mechanics (2019). Since 2016, he worked at developing dedicated numerical tool able to assess plasma facing component (PFC) lifetime under relevant tokamak constraints and developed advanced skills related to the plasma/wall interactions and the PFC design/qualification as well as fusion device operation and maintenance as Engineer in Charge (EiC) of the WEST. His main activities combines experiments (mechanical testing, laser annealing, etc.) and numerical simulations to provide feedback on the design (material and component design), the qualification and the structural health monitoring (SHM) of components exposed to fusion plasma. This contributes to the definition and the mentoring of projects involving various CEA laboratories, national and international partners.