Abstract.Progress, since the ITER Physics Basis publication, in understanding the processes that will determine the properties of the plasma edge and its interaction with material elements in ITER is described. Experimental areas where significant progress has taken place are : energy transport in the SOL in particular of the anomalous transport scaling, particle transport in the SOL that plays a major role in the interaction of diverted plasmas with the main chamber material elements, ELM energy deposition on material elements and the transport mechanism for the ELM energy from the main plasma to the plasma facing components, the physics of plasma detachment and neutral dynamics including the edge density profile structure and the control of plasma particle content and He removal, the erosion of low and high Z materials in fusion devices, their transport to the core plasma and their migration at the plasma edge including the formation of mixed materials, the processes determining the size and location of the retention of tritium in fusion devices and methods to remove it and the processes determining the efficiency of the various fuelling methods as well as their development towards the ITER requirements. This experimental progress has been accompanied by the development of modelling tools for the physical processes at the edge plasma and plasma-materials interaction and the further validation of these models by comparing their predictions with the new experimental results. Progress in the modelling development and validation has been mostly concentrated in the following areas : refinement of the predictions for ITER with plasma edge modelling codes by inclusion of detailed geometrical features of the divertor and the introduction of physical effects, which can play a 2 major role in determining the divertor parameters at the divertor for ITER conditions such as hydrogen radiation transport and neutral-neutral collisions, modelling of the ion orbits at the plasma edge, which can play a role in determining power deposition at the divertor target, models for plasma-materials and plasma dynamics interaction during ELMs and disruptions, models for the transport of impurities at the plasma edge to describe the core contamination by impurities and the migration of eroded materials at the edge plasma and its associated tritium retention and models for the turbulent processes that determine the anomalous transport of energy and particles across the SOL. The implications for the expected performance of the reference regimes in ITER, the operation of the ITER device and the lifetime of the plasma facing materials are discussed. Introduction.This chapter outlines the significant progress achieved since the ITER Physics Basis in understanding basic scrape-off layer (SOL) and divertor processes in a tokamak. The interaction of plasma with first-wall surfaces will have considerable impact on the performance of fusion plasmas, the lifetime of plasma facing components, and the retention of tritium in next step Burning Plasma E...

Results of a detailed study of the parameter space of the ITER divertor with the B2-Eirene code are presented. Relations between plasma parameters at the separatrix, the interface between the core and edge plasma, are parametrized to provide a set of boundary conditions for the core models. The reference ITER divertor geometry is compared with the straight target option, and the possibility of controlling the edge density by shifting the plasma equilibrium in ITER is explored.

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This paper describes the present state of the development of the computational model of the ITER edge plasma. Neutral–neutral collisions and molecular dynamics are introduced into the self-consistent scheme. First results of ITER modelling including these effects indicate that the operational window for the ITER divertor shifts towards higher neutral pressure in the private-flux region, retaining the operational flexibility determined in the previous analyses.

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