UNDERSTANDING IMPURITY RETENTION BY DIVERTORS

Simple, 1-D fluid model prescriptions are developed to predict under what circumstances impurities released at divertor targets would be expected to leak to the main plasma. The prescriptions are tested by comparison with results using the DIVIMP (divertor impurity) Monte Carlo code and are found to be well satisfied under strongly collisional conditions. The transition to collisionlessness degrades the agreement with the simple model. Usually, the simple model predicts a more-or-less catastrophic buildup of impurities outside the divertor. This, however, is an artificial result arising from the assumption of strictly one-dimensional, along B, motion; even weak cross-field transport can stop such impurity accumulation.