Gyrokinetic simulations of the core turbulence in the reference JT-60SA scenario

Abstract Linear and nonlinear local gyrokinetic simulations of the high power high current JT-60SA scenario are presented, based on inputs from predictive transport modelling. Carbon impurities and fast ions are included in the simulations as well as electromagnetic effects. High frequency modes associated with fast ions are found in linear and nonlinear simulations and identified as Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAEs). In the absence of TAEs, turbulent transport is found to mainly be driven by the ion temperature gradient mode. In this case, fast particles are found not to have a significant effect on the heat flux. The total heat flux at half normalized minor radius is found to be higher than expected based on the assumed total heating power. A modest 10% decrease of the ion and electron temperature gradients (ETGs) is sufficient to match the expected value. On the other hand, simulations at other radial positions demonstrate heat fluxes lower than expected, consistent with the previous study of a similar scenario and an increase of the ion and ETGs by about 20%–30% is necessary to recover the expected heat flux.