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An analysis workflow has been developed to assess energy deposition and material damage for ITER vertical displacement events (VDE) and major disruptions (MD). This paper describes the use of this workflow to assess the melt damage to be expected during unmitigated current quench (CQ) phases of VDEs and MDs at different points in the ITER Research Plan. The plasma scenarios are modelled using the DINA code with variations in plasma current Ip, disruption direction (upwards or downwards), Be impurity density nBe, and diffusion coefficient χ. Magnetic field line tracing using SMITER calculates time-dependent, 3D maps of surface power density q_⊥ on the Be-armored first wall panels (FWP) throughout the CQ. MEMOS-U determines the temperature response, macroscopic melt motion, and final surface topology of each FWP. Effects of Be vapor shielding are included. Scenarios at the baseline combination of Ip and toroidal field (15 MA/5.3 T) show the most extreme melt damage, with the assumed nBe having a strong impact on the disruption duration, peak q_⊥ and total energy deposition to the first wall. The worst-cases are upward 15 MA VDEs and MDs at lower values of nBe, with q_(⊥,max)=307 MW/m^2 and maximum erosion losses of ~2mm after timespans of ~400-500 ms. All scenarios at 5 MA avoided melt damage, and only one 7.5 MA scenario yields a notable erosion depth of 0.25 mm. These results imply that disruptions during 5 MA, and some 7.5 MA, operating scenarios will be acceptable during the Pre-Fusion Power Operation phases of ITER. Preliminary analysis shows that localized melt damage for the worst-case disruption should have a limited impact on subsequent stationary power handling capability.

Group 5 elements (niobium and tantalum) and group 6 elements (molybdenum and tungsten) were exposed to helium plasma, and the resulting surface structures were observed by electron microscopy. Group 5 elements showed hole structures, where the size of the holes ranged from several tens of nm to a few hundred nm in diameter, while group 6 elements showed fiber-like structures. As a first step in understanding such differences, the difference in helium agglomeration energies and changes in the stress tensor as a function of the number of He atoms at interstitial sites were investigated for each element using density functional theory. The calculations revealed that helium atoms prefer to agglomerate in both of these groups. However, helium in group 6 elements can agglomerate more easily than group 5 elements due to higher binding energy. These results indicate a possible correlation between the shape of helium plasma induced surface nanostructures and the atomic level properties due to helium agglomeration.