ASDEX Upgrade—JT-60U comparison and ECRH power requirements for NTM stabilization in ITER

Neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) are experimentally controlled with local electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) and the island width decay during NTM stabilization is modelled using the so-called modified Rutherford equation (MRE). In this paper, a modelling of the MRE is carried out and simulations of the island width decay are compared with the experimentally observed ones in order to fit the two free machine-independent parameters present in the equation. A systematic study on a database of NTM stabilization discharges from ASDEX Upgrade and JT-60U is done for extrapolating the ECCD power requirements for ITER. The extrapolation to ITER of the NTM stabilization results from ASDEX Upgrade and JT-60U shows that 10 MW of ECCD power are enough to stabilize large NTMs. The 10 MW power estimate for ITER is based on the assumption that the free parameters in the MRE are machine independent. Indeed, this assumption is verified in this paper for ASDEX Upgrade and JT-60U. An interesting consequence of the relatively modest power requirement for ITER is that the installed 20 MW will suffice for simultaneous 2/1 and 3/2 NTM stabilization.