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The National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) was designed to test physics principles of an innovative stellarator design developed by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Construction of some of the major components and subassemblies was completed, but the estimated cost and schedule for completing the project grew as the technical requirements and risks became better understood, leading to its cancellation in 2008. The project's risks stemmed from its technical challenges, primarily the complex component geometries and tight tolerances that were required. The initial baseline, which was established in 2004, was supported by a risk management plan and risk-based contingencies, both of which proved to be inadequate. Technical successes were achieved in the construction of challenging components and subassemblies, but cost and schedule growth was experienced. As part of an effort to improve project performance, a new risk management program was devised and implemented in 2007-2008. It led to a better understanding of project risks, a sounder basis for contingency estimates, and improved management tools. Although the risks were ultimately unacceptable to the sponsor, valuable lessons in risk management were learned through the experiences with the NCSX project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent progress in the theoretical understanding and design of compact stellarators is described. Hybrid devices, which depart from canonical stellarators by deriving benefits from the bootstrap current which flows at finite beta, comprise a class of low aspect ratio A<4 stellarators. They possess external kink stability (at moderate beta) in the absence of a conducting wall, possible immunity to disruptions through external control of the transform and magnetic shear, and they achieve volume-averaged ballooning beta limits (4%-6%) similar to those in tokamaks. In addition, bootstrap currents can reduce the effects of magnetic islands (self-healing effect) and lead to simpler stellarator coils by reducing the required external transform. Powerful physics and coil optimization codes have been developed and integrated to design experiments aimed at exploring compact stellarators. The physics basis for designing the national compact stellarator will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Runaway electron formation and confinement occur readily in pulsed torsatrons and heliotrons because of the high loop voltages during initiation and termination of the helical and vertical fields (‘‘field ramping’’) and the inherently good containment of the electrons on the flux surfaces in the vacuum fields. This has been confirmed for the Advanced Toroidal Facility (AFT) [Fusion Technol. 10, 179 (1986)] and other stellarators by orbit calculations. Since runaway electrons can cause an unacceptable level of hard x rays near the machine, a runaway electron suppression system was incorporated in ATF. The main component of the system is a movable paddle, which is normally left in the center of the plasma chamber during the field ramps. This device, in conjunction with programmed vertical field ramping, which reduces the volume of good flux surfaces, has proved to be very effective in reducing the runaway electron population. Measurements of hard x rays from ATF have shown that the runaway electrons are produced primarily during the field ramping but that there is usually also a small steady-state runaway electron component during the‘‘flat-top’’ portion of the fields. The paddle is the main source of the hard x radiation (thick-target bremsstrahlung). There is evidence that some of the runaway electrons may be confined to islands. The maximum x-ray energy found by pulse height analysis is ∼12–15 MeV. The mean energy appears to be a few million electron volts. There is a noticeable forward peaking of the bremsstrahlung from the paddle. The limiters do not appear to be major sources of x rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The understanding of tokamak transport depends on the exploration of a wide range of theoretical models and of a variety of toroidal experiments. This report considers the contributions that nontokamak, but toroidal, experiments can make to our understanding of tokamak transport as well as theoretical alternatives to the standard drift wave model of tokamak transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]