Real time wall conditioning with lithium powder injection in long pulse H-mode plasmas in EAST with tungsten divertor

Real-time lithium powder injection has been applied to long-pulse (>30 s) H-mode plasmas in EAST. This replenishes the active lithium surface that is routinely consumed by plasma-wall interactions. The real-time injection of Li powder into long H-mode discharges effectively suppresses impurity influx and controls recycling on EAST, with an ITER-like tungsten upper divertor. With lithium powder injection, the concentrations W, Mo, and C were reduced by 50% compared to ELMy H-mode discharges. During lithium injection, two effects play a role in the suppression of impurities influx: a reduced divertor temperature and heat flux and hence reduced erosion, and impurity trapping via deposition of a Li film onto plasma-facing surfaces. The ‘fresh’ injected lithium replenishes the film deposited during daily morning evaporation, restoring the wall's pumping capability. Thus, a measurable reduction in the global recycling coefficient was observed.