WEST advanced wall protection achievements toward long pulse operation
Abstract
Long pulse operation in magnetic fusion devices requires well controlled plasma power exhaust to the divertor & wall, and avoidance of wall hot spots that could evolve in wall damage. At WEST, 10 major plasma facing components are monitored using 10 series of temperature/power indicators, based on multiple diagnostic systems, among which the infrared viewing system is especially relevant. These indicators span from the most basic ones (temperatures, power and energy from deterministic models) to advanced processes using artificial intelligence acquired through machine learning. Some advanced processes do operate in real time, and feedback on power actuators through the plasma control system, providing active control toward remaining within the safe operational domain. Other advanced processes intervene as forensic tools post discharge to identify possible dangerous situations regarding the power loading to the wall, so that the discharge run plan is adjusted to avoid running into aggravating wall events. No critical wall power event happened during the campaigns C9 to C11 (2024-2025), totalling about 13h of plasma, that would have affected the campaign plan. While it cannot be demonstrated that the active & intelligent wall protection enabled the new plasma duration record of 1337 seconds, the wall protection system as a whole plausibly contributed to obtaining these record durations by preventing wall hot spots to become critical during the campaigns.
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BibTeX
@article{mitteau2026west,
title = {{WEST advanced wall protection achievements toward long pulse operation}},
author = {R. Mitteau and M.H. Aumeunier and L. Dubus and J. Gerardin and V. Gorse and E. Grelier and V. Moncada and S. Vives and X. Litaudon and M. Jakubowski and J. Fellinger},
journal = {Nuclear Fusion},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1088/1741-4326/aeabb9},
eprint = {2610.11871},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://cea.hal.science/cea-05786484v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - WEST advanced wall protection achievements toward long pulse operation
AU - R. Mitteau
AU - M.H. Aumeunier
AU - L. Dubus
AU - J. Gerardin
AU - V. Gorse
AU - E. Grelier
AU - V. Moncada
AU - S. Vives
AU - X. Litaudon
AU - M. Jakubowski
AU - J. Fellinger
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Nuclear Fusion
DO - 10.1088/1741-4326/aeabb9
UR - https://cea.hal.science/cea-05786484v1
AB - Long pulse operation in magnetic fusion devices requires well controlled plasma power exhaust to the divertor & wall, and avoidance of wall hot spots that could evolve in wall damage. At WEST, 10 major plasma facing components are monitored using 10 series of temperature/power indicators, based on multiple diagnostic systems, among which the infrared viewing system is especially relevant. These indicators span from the most basic ones (temperatures, power and energy from deterministic models) to advanced processes using artificial intelligence acquired through machine learning. Some advanced processes do operate in real time, and feedback on power actuators through the plasma control system, providing active control toward remaining within the safe operational domain. Other advanced processes intervene as forensic tools post discharge to identify possible dangerous situations regarding the power loading to the wall, so that the discharge run plan is adjusted to avoid running into aggravating wall events. No critical wall power event happened during the campaigns C9 to C11 (2024-2025), totalling about 13h of plasma, that would have affected the campaign plan. While it cannot be demonstrated that the active & intelligent wall protection enabled the new plasma duration record of 1337 seconds, the wall protection system as a whole plausibly contributed to obtaining these record durations by preventing wall hot spots to become critical during the campaigns.
SN - 0029-5515
SN - 1741-4326
ER -