Metal Erosion under Plasma Flow Typical for ITER Transient Regimes

Theoretical models of movement of a fast melt metal layer (up to v ∼ 10 m/s) and droplet erosion are developed for power density pulses typical for tokamak plasma edge localized modes (ELM) and disruption. Fast melt metal movement and droplet erosion were shown to be possible only at plasma flow pressure P > 1 atm. The secondary shielding plasma near the target has a high density, a relatively low temperature and a much higher pressure than that of the original plasma flow. Even if initial plasma flow has a pressure below the threshold of fast melt layer movement and droplet erosion, the secondary shielding plasma can cause fast melt metal movement and droplet erosion.