Alfvén Laboratory, Teknikringen 31, KTH, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
+) PSFC-MIT, Cambridge MA 02139, USA and
JET, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3EA, United Kingdom
*) CRPP, EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Relying on the good agreement observed between the gyrokinetic PENN model and the low toroidal mode number n damping measurements from JET, the stability of Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) is predicted for reactor relevant conditions. Full non-local wave-particle power transfers are computed between global wavefields and alpha-particles in an ITER reference equilibrium, showing that low n=2 eigenmodes are strongly damped and intermediate n=12 eigenmodes with a global radial extension are stable with a damping rate gamma/omega=0.02. Even though an excitation of alpha-particle driven instabilities remains in principle possible in reactors, this study suggests that realistic operation scenarii exist where all the AEs of global character are stable.
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