Exascale Gyrokinetic Study of ITER Challenge on Power-Exhaust and ELM-Free Edge

PI CS Chang, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Co-PI Robert Hager, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Seung-Hoe Ku, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
George Wilkie, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Scott Klasky, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Aaron Scheinberg, Jubelee Development
Mark Shephard, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Julien Dominski, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Kevin Huck, University of Oregon
Luis Chacon, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Randy Michael Churchill, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Stephanie Ethier, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Award INCITE
Hours Polaris: 200,000 node-hours; Aurora: 1,000,000 node-hours
Total Hours 2,500,000 node-hours
Year
Domain Physics
Chang-INCITE-2025

This figure shows the tungsten density distribution in the whole device of the ASDEX-U tokamak in Germany, modeled with the fusion particle-in-cell code XGC. In ITER, the material wall is made of tungsten, which can become sputtered and transported into the plasma. Tungsten ions radiate significant energy, raising concerns about the distribution of the contaminated tungsten ions in ITER’s burning core. ASDEX-U uses tungsten walls and serves as a valuable present-day device for studying the transport mechanism of the tungsten particles into the core plasma. With an INCITE award, a research team led by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is using ALCF and OLCF computing resources to advance our understanding of this phenomenon. Image: Victor Mateevitsi and the ALCF Visualization and Data Analytics Team, Argonne National Laboratory (visualization); Julien Dominski and the XGC Team, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (simulation); Eleonora Viezzer, University of Seville, and Arne Kallenbach, Tilmann Lunt, and the AUG Team, Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (ASDEX-U data).

Project Description

The goal of this INCITE project is to employ the electromagnetic edge gyrokinetic PIC code XGC to perform two-pronged, but inter-related, fundamental edge physics studies of critical importance to the successful operation of ITER and to the design of Fusion Power Plants (FPPs). The first prong is the mitigation of high stationary heat-flux densities that will damage material walls while maintaining the high edge plasma pedestal within a safe operational window. The second prong is avoiding explosive transient power- flow to material walls caused by edge localized mode (ELM) crash. To achieve these goals, leadership-class compute-power is required to address the current game changing INCITE studies that include important but computationally expensive ingredients: i) the addition of tungsten impurity particles that are sputtered from ITER’s material wall as a third species along with deuterium and tritium fuel particles; and ii) the capability for plasma detachment from the divertor plates.

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