Compatibility of advanced tokamak plasmas with high density and high radiation loss has been investigated in both reversed shear (RS) plasmas and high βp H-mode plasmas with a weak positive shear on JT-60U. In the RS plasmas, the operating regime is extended to high density above the Greenwald density (nGW) with high confinement (HHy2 > 1) and high radiation loss fraction (frad > 0.9) by tailoring the internal transport barriers (ITBs). With a small plasma-wall gap, the radiation loss in the main plasma (inside the magnetic separatrix) reaches 80% of the heating power due to metal impurity accumulation. However, high confinement of HHy2 = 1.2 is sustained even with such a large radiation loss in the main plasma. By neon seeding, the divertor radiation loss is enhanced from 20% to 40% of the total radiation loss. In the high βp H-mode plasmas, high confinement (HHy2 = 0.96) is maintained at high density () with high radiation loss fraction (frad ∼ 1) by utilizing high-field-side pellets and argon (Ar) injection. The high is attributed to the formation of strong density ITB. Strong core-edge parameter linkage for confinement improvement is observed, where the pedestal pressure and the core plasma confinement increase together. The measured radiation profile including contributions from all impurities in the main plasma is peaked, and the central radiation is ascribed to the contribution from Ar accumulated inside the ITB. Impurity transport analyses indicate that the Ar density profile, twice as peaked as the electron density profile, which is the same level as that observed in the high βp H-mode plasma, can yield an acceptable radiation profile even with a peaked density profile in a fusion reactor.
On the role of hydrogen radiation absorption in divertor plasma detachment