Theoretical Aspects of Dust in Fusion Devices

It is known that micro-particles (dust) exist in fusion devices. However, an impact of dust on plasma contamination, material migration, and performance of fusion devices is still under debate. In burning plasma experiments like ITER dust can also pose safety problems related to it's chemical activity, toxicity, tritium retention, and radioactive content. In order to address all these issues we need to understand the physics of dust generation, dynamics, and transport. In this paper, the results of recent theoretical studies of dust in fusion plasmas are reviewed. Different aspects of the physics of dust in fusion plasmas, including the processes of dust generation, charging, heating, destruction, spinning, forces acting on dust, dust collision with material walls, etc are discussed. The numerical models of these processes have been incorporated into the dust transport code DUSTT, which is capable of tracking of dust particles in fusion devices in 3D geometry. The results of the simulations of dust particle dynamics, transport, and the impact on edge plasma performance are considered. The latest results on nonlinear interactions of dust grain with tokamak plasma as well as remaining gaps in the understanding of physics of dust in fusion devices are discussed (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)