Erosion simulation of first wall beryllium armour after ITER transient heat loads and runaway electrons action

Abstract Beryllium is foreseen as plasma facing armour for the first wall (FW) in ITER in form of Be-clad blanket modules in macrobrush design with brush size about 8–10 cm. In ITER significant heat loads during transient events (TE) and runaway electrons impact are expected at the main chamber wall that may leads to the essential damage of the Be armour. The main mechanisms of metallic target damage remain surface melting, evaporation, and melt motion, which determine the life-time of the plasma facing components. The melt motion damages of Be macrobrush armour caused by the tangential friction force and the J × B forces are analyzed for bulk Be and different sizes of Be-brushes. The damage of the FW due to heat loads caused by runaway electrons is numerically simulated.