Abstract
Pellet injection from the inner wall is planned for use on ITER as the primary core fueling system since gas fueling is expected to be highly inefficient in burning plasmas. Tests of the inner wall guide tube have shown that 5mm pellets with up to 300 m/s speeds can survive intact and provide the necessary core fueling rate. Modeling and extrapolation of the inner wall pellet injection experiments from today's smaller tokamaks leads to the prediction that this method will provide efficient core fueling beyond the pedestal region. Using pellets for triggering of frequent small edge localized modes is an attractive additional benefit that the pellet injection system can provide. A description of the ITER pellet injection system capabilities for fueling and ELM triggering are presented and performance expectations and fusion power control aspects are discussed.
