July 2026

Journal

First Wall Design of a Tokamak Pilot Plant Using a Monte Carlo Model for 3-D Heat Flux Deposition

By:
Nichols, Jacob H; Borowiec, Katarzyna ; Lore, Jeremy D; Unterberg, Ezekial A; Bae, Jin Whan ; Oz, Furkan ; Sircar, Arpan
Journal Name:
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
Page Number:
2846-2854
Volume:
54
Issue Number:
6
Publication Date:
July 14, 2026
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2026.3688945

Abstract

We present a method for calculating the heat fluxes deposited on nonaxisymmetric tokamak first wall components, allowing for a first-of-its-kind model for power handling in the tokamak far scrape-off layer (SOL). The DIV3D Monte Carlo model features strict global power conservation and can calculate the finite cross-field plasma transport into magnetically-shadowed regions, which is significant when dealing with meter-scale shadows introduced by components such as poloidal limiters or antennas. As a case study, we apply the DIV3D model to inform the distribution of first wall poloidal limiters in an ARC-class reactor device. We demonstrate that discrete protection limiters can efficiently reduce peak heat fluxes on recessed breeder wall components in the presence of significant far-SOL plasma fluxes. By varying the toroidal periodicity and radial standoff depth of the limiters, we demonstrate one of the tradeoffs that must be considered in first wall design: more limiters provide greater protection, but at the cost of reduced breeding performance. We also present the impact that radial misalignments between limiters would have on first wall power loading.