Design and construction of the first ELM resilient long pulse ICRH antenna for WEST

• Bernard Jean-Michel
• Mollard Patrick
• Bruno Vincent
• Chen Zhaoxi
• Delaplanche Jean-Marc
• Delmas Etienne
• Ferlay Fabien
• Hatchressian Jean-Claude
• Helou Walid
• Hillairet Julien
• Hoang Tuong
• Lombard Gilles
• Louison Céphise
• Samaille Frank
• Song Yuntao
• Vulliez Karl
• Verger Jean-Marc
• Wang Yongsheng
• Wu Xinlian
• Yang Qingxi
• Yin Dapeng

• ICRH antenna CW operation leak test strap Faraday screen WEST ITER
• ICRH antenna
• CW operation
• Leak test
• Strap
• Faraday screen
• WEST
• ITER

One of the key missions of the Ion Cyclotron Resonant Heating (IRCH) system for WEST is to provide sufficient RF heating power in order to obtain a heat flux on the divertor target of 10MW/m 2 during 1000 s and 20 MW/m 2 during a few tens of seconds. Based on the experience acquired in Tore Supra, the ICRH system has been upgraded for long pulse operation and Edge Localized Modes (ELM) resilience. To achieve this performance, three antennas have been designed through a European collaboration and are now under fabrication at CAS/ASIPP, at the Keye Company, Hefei, in China, within the framework of the Associated Laboratory IRFM-ASIPP. This paper describes the electrical and mechanical design of the antenna, together with the main manufacturing steps and leak test procedure used for validating the watercooled components. Accessibility and maintenance studies on WEST have been performed with the help of virtual reality. The first ICRH antenna was delivered at Cadarache in July 2016, and is foreseen to be installed on WEST in 2017.