Thermal behavior of the LHCD launchers in Tore Supra

An actively cooled lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) launcher has been installed in 1999 in the Tore Supra tokamak. During the shots, the temperature of the antenna front part is measured with infrared cameras and on the back with thermocouples. The energy removed by the cooling water loop is also recorded. The infrared analysis and the calorimetric balance sheet for plasma indicates that the temperature increase and the absorbed energy are higher than expected. The thermal measurements have been compared to finite elements calculations with the Cast 3M code taking into account the RF losses, the plasma radiated heat flux and an additional heat flux on the antenna and guard limiter surface in front of the plasma. This additional source is most likely attributed to the interaction of fast ions.