Preliminary Investigation into Aerosol Mobilization Resulting from Fusion Reactor Disruptions

An experimental system has been developed to study disruption-induced aerosol mobilization for fusion accident analysis. The SIRENS high heat flux facility at North Carolina State University has been modified to closely simulate disruption conditions expected in tokamak reactors [1]. A hot vapor is formed by an ablation-controlled are and expansion cooled into a glass chamber, where particle condensation and growth occurs. The particles are collected and analyzed for relevant transport properties (e.g. size distribution and shape). Particle characterization methods are discussed, and preliminary results based on simple analysis techniques are given.