The national spherical torus experiment (NSTX) research programme and progress towards high beta, long pulse operating scenarios

doi:10.1088/0029-5515/43/12/011

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E.J. Synakowski et al 2003 Nucl. Fusion 43 1653 doi:10.1088/0029-5515/43/12/011

The national spherical torus experiment (NSTX) research programme and progress towards high beta, long pulse operating scenarios

E.J. Synakowski¹, M.G. Bell¹, R.E. Bell¹, T. Bigelow², M. Bitter¹, W. Blanchard¹, J. Boedo³, C. Bourdelle⁴, C. Bush², D.S. Darrow¹, P.C. Efthimion¹¹, E.D. Fredrickson¹, D.A. Gates¹, M. Gilmore⁵, L.R. Grisham¹, J.C. Hosea¹, D.W. Johnson¹, R. Kaita¹, S.M. Kaye¹, S. Kubota⁶, H.W. Kugel¹, B.P. LeBlanc¹, K. Lee⁷, R. Maingi², J. Manickam¹, R. Maqueda⁸, E. Mazzucato¹, S.S. Medley¹, J. Menard¹, D. Mueller¹, B.A. Nelson⁹, C. Neumeyer¹, M. Ono¹, F. Paoletti¹⁰, H.K. Park¹, S.F. Paul¹, Y.-K.M. Peng², C.K. Phillips¹, S. Ramakrishnan¹, R. Raman⁹, A.L. Roquemore¹, A. Rosenberg¹, P.M. Ryan², S.A. Sabbagh¹⁰, C.H. Skinner¹, V. Soukhanovskii¹, T. Stevenson¹, D. Stutman¹¹, D.W. Swain², G. Taylor¹, A. Von Halle¹, J. Wilgen², M. Williams¹, J.R. Wilson¹, S.J. Zweben¹, R. Akers¹², R.E. Barry², P. Beiersdorfer¹³, J.M. Bialek¹⁰, B. Blagojevic¹¹, P.T. Bonoli¹⁴, R. Budny¹, M.D. Carter², C.S. Chang¹⁵, J. Chrzanowski¹, W. Davis¹, B. Deng⁷, E.J. Doyle¹⁶, L. Dudek¹, J. Egedal¹⁴, R. Ellis¹, J.R. Ferron¹⁶, M. Finkenthal¹¹, J. Foley¹, E. Fredd¹, A. Glasser⁸, T. Gibney¹, R.J. Goldston¹, R. Harvey¹⁷, R.E. Hatcher¹, R.J. Hawryluk¹, W. Heidbrink¹⁸, K.W. Hill¹, W. Houlberg², T.R. Jarboe⁹, S.C. Jardin¹, H. Ji¹, M. Kalish¹, J. Lawrance¹⁹, L.L. Lao¹⁶, K.C. Lee⁷, F.M. Levinton²⁰, N.C. Luhmann⁷, R. Majeski¹, R. Marsala¹, D. Mastravito¹, T.K. Mau³, B. McCormack¹, M.M. Menon², O. Mitarai²¹, M. Nagata²², N. Nishino²³, M. Okabayashi¹, G. Oliaro¹, D. Pacella²⁴, R. Parsells¹, T. Peebles⁶, B. Peneflor¹⁶, D. Piglowski¹⁶, R. Pinsker¹⁶, G.D. Porter¹², A.K. Ram¹⁴, M. Redi¹, M. Rensink¹², G. Rewoldt¹, J. Robinson¹, P. Roney¹, M. Schaffer¹⁶, K. Shaing²⁵, S. Shiraiwa²⁶, P. Sichta¹, D. Stotler¹, B.C. Stratton¹, Y. Takase²⁶, X. Tang⁸, R. Vero¹¹, W.R. Wampler²⁷, G.A. Wurden⁸, X.Q. Xu¹², J.G. Yang²⁸, L. Zeng⁶ and W. Zhu⁶

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synakowski@pppl.gov

¹ Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
² Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
³ University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
⁴ CEA Cadarache, France
⁵ University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, Albuquerque, NM, USA
⁶ University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
⁷ University of California, Davis, CA, USA
⁸ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
⁹ University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
¹⁰ Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
¹¹ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
¹² Euratom-UKAEA Fusion Association, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
¹³ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
¹⁴ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
¹⁵ New York University, New York, NY, USA
¹⁶ General Atomics, San Diego, CA, USA
¹⁷ Compx, Del Mar, CA, USA
¹⁸ University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
¹⁹ Princeton Scientific Instruments, Princeton, NJ, USA
²⁰ Nova Photonics, Princeton, NJ, USA
²¹ Kyushu Tokai University, Kumamoto, Japan
²² Himeji Institute of Technology, Okayama, Japan
²³ Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
²⁴ ENEA, Frascati, Italy
²⁵ University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
²⁶ Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan
²⁷ Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, USA
²⁸ Korea Basic Science Institute, Taejon, Republic of Korea

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Abstract References Cited By

A major research goal of the national spherical torus experiment is establishing long-pulse, high beta, high confinement operation and its physics basis. This research has been enabled by facility capabilities developed during 2001 and 2002, including neutral beam (up to 7 MW) and high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating (up to 6 MW), toroidal fields up to 6 kG, plasma currents up to 1.5 MA, flexible shape control, and wall preparation techniques. These capabilities have enabled the generation of plasmas with $\beta _{\rm T} \equiv \langle p \rangle /(B_{{\rm T}0}^{2}/2\mu_{0})$ of up to 35%. Normalized beta values often exceed the no-wall limit, and studies suggest that passive wall mode stabilization enables this for H mode plasmas with broad pressure profiles. The viability of long, high bootstrap current fraction operations has been established for ELMing H mode plasmas with toroidal beta values in excess of 15% and sustained for several current relaxation times. Improvements in wall conditioning and fuelling are likely contributing to a reduction in H mode power thresholds. Electron thermal conduction is the dominant thermal loss channel in auxiliary heated plasmas examined thus far. HHFW effectively heats electrons, and its acceleration of fast beam ions has been observed. Evidence for HHFW current drive is obtained by comparision of the loop voltage evolution in plasmas with matched density and temperature profiles but varying phases of launched HHFW waves. Studies of emissions from electron Bernstein waves indicate a density scale length dependence of their transmission across the upper hybrid resonance near the plasma edge that is consistent with theoretical predictions. A peak heat flux to the divertor targets of 10 MW m⁻² has been measured in the H mode, with large asymmetries being observed in the power deposition between the inner and outer strike points. Non-inductive plasma startup studies have focused on coaxial helicity injection. With this technique, toroidal currents up to 400 kA have been driven, and studies to assess flux closure and coupling to other current drive techniques have begun.

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