Results from the US/USSR exchange for heat load material studies of simulated tokamak disruptions

This paper presents recent results from exchange I.2 of the US/USSR Exchange Program of Cooperation for Magnetic Confinement Fusion. Previous results from this exchange demonstrated much lower than expected ablation of graphites when the graphites were exposed to disruption like heat fluxes delivered by plasma gun sources. This lower than expected ablation has been accounted for by the 'vapor shielding' effect. Vapor shielding occurs when material is ablated from the surface of the graphite target early in the plasma pulse. This ablated material then shields the surface of the target from the rest of the incoming plasma pulse. Vapor shielding has been inferred from diagnostics and ablation data at all participating laboratories, and clear evidence of the effect has been found by laser interferometry at Kurchatov (Troitsk) in the 2MK-200 machine. Recent results from Kurchatov on the 2MK-200 and MKT experiments continue to indicate that the erosion of graphite exposed to disruption like heat fluxes is much lower than expected. Work from the University of New Mexico on the PLAIDS experiment confirms earlier important work conducted on the VIKA experiment at Efremov. This is particularly interesting in that PLAIDS and VIA have very similar plasma pulse characteristics.