Burning Plasmas: resolving energetic particle physics for ITER

With the construction of ITER, magnetic confinement fusion power enters the unexplored burning plasma regime, in which the collisional slowing of charged fusion product alphas dominates the heating process. As the fusion alphas slow they also can drive electromagnetic resonances, whose collective effects can eject the same alphas from confinement, damage the first wall, and if unchecked, prevent ignition. At present, predicted losses differ to measured loss by orders of magnitude, indicating a serious gap in knowledge. We develop an innovative multiple fluid model to understand whether non-perturbative inclusion of energetic particles can resolve the discrepancy, and if so, suggest means to minimise loss.