ASCOT simulations of 14 MeV neutron rates in W7-X: effect of magnetic configuration

Neutron production rates in fusion devices are determined not only by the kinetic profiles but also the fast ion slowing-down distributions. In this work, we investigate the effect of magnetic configuration on neutron production rates in future deuterium plasmas in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. The neutral beam injection, beam and triton slowing-down distributions, and the fusion reactivity are simulated with the ASCOT suite of codes. The results indicate that the magnetic configuration has only a small effect on the production of 2.45 MeV neutrons from thermonuclear and beam-target fusion. The 14.1 MeV neutron production rates were found to be between 1.49x10(12) and 1.67x10(12) s(-1), which is estimated to be sufficient for a time-resolved detection using a scintillating fiber detector, although only in high-performance discharges.