Preliminary analysis on a liquid lithium limiter in capillary porous system (CPS) configuration in view of a "litization" experiment on FTU tokamak

The possibility of using liquid lithium as plasma facing component for the divertor target plates will be investigated on FTU by employing an innovative solution that exploits the surface tension forces in capillary channels to compensate j x B forces induced in lithium. For this structure, a high stability and resistance is foreseen as well as an intrinsic capability to self-regenerate the plasma facing surface. FTU represents the first very good opportunity to test this configuration, called capillary porous system (CPS), in an ITER relevant experiment at high plasma density (up to 3.2 x 10(20) m(-3)), high current (up to 1.6 MA) and high magnetic field (up to 8 T). As first step of its application on FTU, foreseen for the second half of 2005, CPS system will be employed for a "litization" experiment aimed to reduce plasma contamination and recycling. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.