In evaluating the lifetime of plasma-facing components for the Interna
tional Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) against nonnormal hig
h heat loads, credit is taken from the existence of a plasma shield th
at protects the target from excessive evaporation. Formation and physi
cal properties of plasma shields are studied at the dual plasma gun fa
cility, 2MK-200, under conditions simulating ITER hard disruptions and
edge-localized modes (ELMs). The experimental results are used for va
lidation of the theoretical modeling of the plasma/surface interaction
. The important features of the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium pl
asma shield, such as temperature and density distribution, its evoluti
on, the conversion efficiency of the energy of the plasma stream into
total and soft X-ray radiation from highly ionized evaporated target m
aterial, and the energy balance in the plasma shield, are reproduced q
uite well. Thus, realistic modeling of ITER disruptive plasma/wall int
eraction is now possible. Because of the rather small target erosion i
n the simulation experiments, material erosion for ITER typical disrup
tions and ELMs cannot be evaluated from these simulation experiments,
This requires additional simulation experiments with hot plasma stream
s of longer pulse duration and a separate numerical analysis, which ca
n now be performed with validated theoretical models.