Abstract. Tungsten (W) has moved into the focus of fusion research as being a main candidate for the plasma facing components (PFC) of ITER and a future fusion reactor. A main ingredient for understanding the influence of W as a plasma impurity and its impact on the plasma is the spatially resolved, spectroscopic diagnosis of W. The focus of the experimental investigations at ASDEX Upgrade is on the most intense emissions of W-ions (about I-like W

First experiments with non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations, toroidal mode number n = 2, produced by newly installed in-vessel saddle coils in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak show significant reduction of plasma energy loss and peak divertor power load associated with type-I Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) in high-confinement mode plasmas. ELM mitigation is observed above an edge density threshold and is obtained both with magnetic perturbations that are resonant and not resonant with the edge safety factor profile. Compared with unperturbed type-I ELMy reference plasmas, plasmas with mitigated ELMs show similar confinement, similar plasma density and lower tungsten impurity concentration.

The behaviour of tungsten in the core of hybrid scenario plasmas in JET with the ITER-like wall is analysed and modelled with a combination of neoclassical and gyrokinetic codes. In these discharges, good confinement conditions can be maintained only for the first 2–3 s of the high power phase. Later W accumulation is regularly observed, often accompanied by the onset of magneto-hydrodynamical activity, in particular neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs), both of which have detrimental effects on the global energy confinement. The dynamics of the accumulation process is examined, taking into consideration the concurrent evolution of the background plasma profiles, and the possible onset of NTMs. Two time slices of a representative discharge, before and during the accumulation process, are analysed with two independent methods, in order to reconstruct the W density distribution over the poloidal cross-section. The same time slices are modelled, computing both neoclassical and turbulent transport components and consistently including the impact of centrifugal effects, which can be significant in these plasmas, and strongly enhance W neoclassical transport. The modelling closely reproduces the observations and identifies inward neoclassical convection due to the density peaking of the bulk plasma in the central region as the main cause of the accumulation. The change in W neoclassical convection is directly produced by the transient behaviour of the main plasma density profile, which is hollow in the central region in the initial part of the high power phase of the discharge, but which develops a significant density peaking very close to the magnetic axis in the later phase. The analysis of a large set of discharges provides clear indications that this effect is generic in this scenario. The unfavourable impact of the onset of NTMs on the W behaviour, observed in several discharges, is suggested to be a consequence of a detrimental combination of the effects of neoclassical transport and of the appearance of an island.

The tungsten programme in ASDEX Upgrade is pursued towards a full high-Z device. The spectroscopic diagnostic and the cooling factor of W have been extended and refined. The W-coated surfaces represent now a fraction of 65 % (24.8 m 2). The only two major components which are not yet coated are the strikepoint region of the lower divertor as well as the limiters at the low field side. While extending the W surfaces, the W concentration and the discharge behaviour have changed gradually pointing to critical issues when operating with a W wall: anomalous transport in the plasma centre should not be too low, otherwise neoclassical accumulation can occur. A very successful remedy is the addition of central RF heating at the 20-30% level. Regimes with low ELM activity show increased impurity concentration over the whole plasma radius. These discharges can be cured by increasing the ELM frequency through pellet ELM pacemaking or by higher heating power. Moderate gas puffing also mitigates the impurity influx and penetration, however at the expense of lower confinement. The erosion yield at the low field side guard limiter can be as high as 10 3 and fast particle losses from NBI were identified to contribute a significant part to the W sputtering. Discharges run in the upper, W coated divertor do not show higher W concentrations than comparable discharges in the lower C-based divertor.