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Advanced tokamak regimes obtained in ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D, FT-U, JET, JT-60U, TCV and Tore Supra experiments are assessed both in terms of their fusion performance and capability for ultimately reaching steady-state using data from the international internal transport barrier database. These advanced modes of tokamak operation are characterized by an improved core confinement and a modified current profile compared to the relaxed Ohmically driven one. The present results obtained in these experiments are studied in view of their prospect for achieving either long pulses ('hybrid' scenario with inductive and non-inductive current drive) or ultimately steady-state purely non-inductive current drive operation in next step devices such as ITER. A new operational diagram for advanced tokamak operation is proposed where the figure of merit characterizing the fusion performances and confinement, H × βN / q 295, is drawn versus the fraction of the plasma current driven by the bootstrap effect. In this diagram, present day advanced tokamak regimes have now reached an operational domain that is required in the non-inductive ITER current drive operation with typically 50% of the plasma current driven by the bootstrap effect (Green et al 2003 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 45 587). In addition, the existence domain of the advanced mode regimes is also mapped in terms of dimensionless plasmas physics quantities such as normalized Larmor radius, normalized collisionality, Mach number and ratio of ion to electron temperature. The gap between present day and future advanced tokamak experiments is quantitatively assessed in terms of these dimensionless parameters.

The mission of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is to extend the understanding of toroidal physics to low aspect ratio (R/a approximately equal to 1.25) in low collisionality regimes. NSTX is designed to operate with up to 6 MW of High Harmonic Fast Wave (HHFW) heating and current drive, 5 MW of Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) and Co-Axial Helicity Injection (CHI) for non-inductive startup. Initial experiments focused on establishing conditions that will allow NSTX to achieve its aims of simultaneous high-bt and high-bootstrap current fraction, and to develop methods for non-inductive operation, which will be necessary for Spherical Torus power plants. Ohmic discharges with plasma currents up to 1 MA and with a range of shapes and configurations were produced. Density limits in deuterium and helium reached 80% and 120% of the Greenwald limit respectively. Significant electron heating was observed with up to 2.3 MW of HHFW. Up to 270 kA of toroidal current for up to 200 msec was produced noninductively using CHI. Initial NBI experiments were carried out with up to two beam sources (3.2 MW). Plasmas with stored energies of up to 140 kJ and bt =21% were produced.

A summary is presented of recent alpha-particle experiments on the tokamak fusion test reactor. Alpha particles are generally well confined in MHD-quiescent discharges, and alpha heating of electrons has been observed. The theoretically predicted toroidicity-induced Alfv?n eigenmode has been seen in discharges of of alpha power, but only in plasmas with weak magnetic shear.

The deuterium-tritium (D-T) experimental program on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) is underway and routine tritium operations have been established. The technology upgrades made to the TFTR facility have been demonstrated to be sufficient for supporting both operations and maintenance for an extended D-T campaign. To date fusion power has been increased to {approximately}9 MW and several physics results of importance to the D-T reactor regime have been obtained: electron temperature, ion temperature, and plasma stored energy all increase substantially in the D-T regime relative to the D-D regime at the same neutral beam power and comparable limiter conditioning; possible alpha electron heating is indicated and energy confinement improvement with average ion mass is observed; and alpha particle losses appear to be classical with no evidence of TAE mode activity up to the P{sub FUS} {approximately}6 MW level. Instability in the TAE mode frequency range has been observed at P{sub FUS} > 7 MW and its effect on performance is under investigation. Preparations are underway to enhance the alpha particle density further by increasing fusion power and by extending the neutral beam pulse length to permit alpha particle effects of relevance to the ITER regime to be more fullymore » explored.« less

Recent research on TFTR has emphasized optimization of performance in deuterium plasmas, transport studies and studies of energetic ion and fusion product physics in preparation for the D-T experiments that will commence in July of 1993. TFTR has achieved full hardware design parameters, and the best TFTR discharges in deuterium are projected to QDT of 0.3 to 0.5.The physics phenomena that will be studied during the D-T phase will include: tritium particle confinement and fueling, ICRF heating with tritium, species scaling with tritium, collective alpha-particle instabilities, alpha heating of the plasma and helium ash buildup. It is important for the fusion program that these physics issues be addressed to identify regimes of benign alpha behavior, and to develop techniques to actively stabilize or control instabilities driver by collective alpha effects.

This document contains the results of an optical design scoping study of visible-light and infrared optics for the ITER upper ports, performed by LLNL under contract for the US ITER Project Office. ITER is an international collaboration to build a large fusion energy tokamak with a goal of demonstrating net fusion power for pulses much longer than the energy confinement time. At the time of this report, six of the ITER upper ports are planned to each to contain a camera system for recording visible and infrared light, as well as other diagnostics. the performance specifications for the temporal and spatial resolution of this system are shown in the Section II, Functional Specifications. They acknowledge a debt to Y. Corre and co-authors of the CEA Cadarache report ''ITER wide-angle viewing and thermographic and visible system''. Several of the concepts used in this design are derived from that CEA report. The infrared spatial resolution for optics of this design is diffraction-limited by the size of the entrance aperture, at lower resolution than listed in the ITER diagnostic specifications. The size of the entrance aperture is a trade-off between spatial resolution, optics size in the port, and the location of relay optics. The signal-to-noise ratio allows operation at the specified time resolutions.

Present evidence points to remarkably resilient electron temperature profiles in high-density H-mode plasmas on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), suggesting that the underlying electron thermal transport mechanisms respond in a highly nonlinear fashion to changes in the gradients. This paper uses measured plasma profiles as input to linear gyrokinetic analysis to identify candidate micro-instabilities that may be responsible for the electron thermal transport. The criteria for useful nonlinear micro-stability analyses are discussed along with necessary approximations and computational issues.

Our understanding of the physics of internal transport barriers (ITBs) is being advanced by analysis and comparisons of experimental data from many different tokamaks worldwide. An international database consisting of scalar and two-dimensional profile data for ITB plasmas is being developed to determine the requirements for the formation and sustainment of ITBs and to perform tests of theory-based transport models in an effort to improve the predictive capability of the models. Analysis using the database indicates that: (a) the power required to form ITBs decreases with increased negative magnetic shear of the target plasma, and: (b) the E x B flow shear rate is close to the linear growth rate of the ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes at the time of barrier formation when compared for several fusion devices. Tests of several transport models (JETTO, Weiland model) using the two-dimensional profile data indicate that there is only limited agreement between the model predictions and the experimental results for the range of plasma conditions examined for the different devices (DIII-D, JET, JT-60U). Gyrokinetic stability analysis (using the GKS code) of the ITB discharges from these devices indicates that the ITG/TEM growth rates decrease with increased negative magnetic shear and that the E x B shear rate is comparable to the linear growth rates at the location of the ITB.

The delta prime formalism with neoclassical modifications has proven to be a useful tool in the study of tearing modes in high beta, collisionless plasmas. In this paper the formalism developed for the inclusion of neoclassical effects on tearing modes in monotonic q-profile plasmas is extended to plasmas with hollow current profiles and double rational surfaces. First, the classical formalism of tearing modes in the Rutherford regime in low beta plasmas is extended to q profiles with two rational surfaces. Then it is shown that this formalism is readily extended to include neoclassical effects.

A wide variety of potential ICRF heating scenarios relevant for the deuterium-tritium plasmas expected in tokamak reactor-class devices were explored in the TFTR and JET programs. Key physics results from the two programs are discussed.

ICH‐induced toroidal plasma rotation was initially observed from Doppler shift measurements of the FeXXV Kα line using the TFTR horizontal crystal spectrometer for discharges with ion cyclotron heating of 2 MW RF power and without any neutral beam power in a D(H) plasma. The magnitude of plasma rotation depended on the IC resonance location. The observed rotations were in the counter‐plasma‐current direction and of the order of 5×104 m/s. Simple estimates relate the induced rotation to loss of ions from the plasma core. Later experimental results, as recorded by the charge exchange recombination spectrometer during beam blips at the end of the ICH pulse, with up to 6 MW of RF power in a 4He(H) plasma provided the radial profile of rotation.

The first experiments to heat neutral‐beam‐fueled D‐T plasmas with ICRF were conducted during the past year on TFTR. These experiments were performed with full‐bore (R∼2.62 m) plasmas in the low recycling, ‘‘supershot’’ regime with confinement times exceeding two times the empirical L‐mode value. Up to 6 MW of RF were coupled into plasmas fueled by up to 24 MW of D‐T beam injection. Some discharges utilized all T beam fueling to maximize the effect of the second harmonic tritium absorption. Extensive Li‐pellet injection was employed in this regime in an attempt to reduce wall recycling and improve plasma confinement. Although significant second harmonic tritium heating was seen in some plasmas, many discharges were characterized by a degradation in performance and reactivity early in the neutral beam pulse as a result of enhanced recycling of impurities and deuterium from the carbon tile limiter. The proximity of the outboard limiter appears to have exacerbated attempts to limit this enhanced influx.

Results obtained from experiments utilizing high power ICRF (ion cyclotron range of frequency) heating to stabilize sawtooth oscillations on TFTR are reviewed. The key observations include existence of a minimum ICRF power required to achieve stabilization, a dependence of the stabilization threshold on the relative size of the ICRF power deposition profile to the q=1 volume, and a peaking of the equilibrium pressure and current profiles during sawtooth-free phases of the discharges. In addition, preliminary measurements of the poloidal magnetic field profile indicate that q on axis decreases to a value of 0.55{plus minus}0.15 after a sawtooth-stabilized period of {approximately}0.5 sec has transpired. The results are discussed in the context of theory, which suggests that the fast ions produced by the ICRF heating suppress sawteeth by stabilizing the m=1 MHD instabilities believed to be the trigger for the sawtooth oscillations. Though qualitative agreement is found between the observations and the theory, further refinement of the theory coupled with more accurate measurements of experimental profiles will be required in order to complete quantitative comparisons.

A transport code (TRANSP) is used to simulate future deuterium-tritium experiments (DT) in TFTR. The simulations are derived from 14 TFTR DD discharges, and the modeling of one supershot is discussed in detail to indicate the degree of accuracy of the TRANSP modeling. Fusion energy yields and {alpha}-particle parameters are calculated, including profiles of the {alpha} slowing down time, average energy, and of the Alfven speed and frequency. Two types of simulations are discussed. The main emphasis is on the DT equivalent, where an equal mix of D and T is substituted for the D in the initial target plasma, and for the D{sup O} in the neutral-beam injection, but the other measured beam and plasma parameters are unchanged. This simulation does not assume that {alpha} heating will enhance the plasma parameters, or that confinement will increase with T. The maximum relative fusion yield calculated for these simulations is Q{sub DT} {approx} 0.3, and the maximum {alpha} contribution to the central toroidal {beta} is {beta}{sub {alpha}}(0) {approx} 0.5%. The stability of toroidicity-induced Alfven eigenmodes (TAE) and kinetic ballooning modes (KBM) is discussed. The TAE mode is predicted to become unstable for some of the equivalent simulations, particularly after the terminationmore » of neutral beam injection. In the second type of simulation, empirical supershot scaling relations are used to project the performance at the maximum expected beam power. The MHD stability of the simulations is discussed.« less

Experiments with plasmas having nearly equal concentrations of deuterium and tritium have been carried out on TFTR. To date, the maximum fusion power has been 10.7 MW, using 39.5 MW of neutral-beam heating, in a supershot discharge and 6.7 MW in a high-{beta}{sub p} discharge following a current ramp-down. The fusion power density in the core of the plasma has reached 2.8 MWm{sup {minus}3}, exceeding that expected in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITTER). The energy confinement time, {tau}{sub E}, is observed to increase in D-T, relative to D plasmas, by 20% and the n{sub i}(O){center_dot}{tau}{sub E} product by 55%. The improvement in thermal confinement is caused primarily by a decrease in ion heat conductivity in both supershot and limiter-H-mode discharges. Extensive lithium pellet injection increased the confinement time to 0.27 s and enabled higher current operation in both supershot and high-{beta}{sub p} discharges. First measurements of the confined alpha particles have been performed and found to be in good agreement with TRANSP simulations assuming classical confinement. Measurements of the alpha ash profile have been compared with simulations using particle transport coefficients from helium gas puffing experiments. The loss of energetic alpha particles to a detector at the bottom ofmore » the vessel is well described by the first-orbit loss mechanism. No loss due to alpha-particle-driven instabilities has yet been observed. ICRF heating of a D-T plasma, using the second harmonic of tritium, has been demonstrated. D-T experiments on TFTR will continue both to explore the physics underlying the ITER design and to examine some of the physics issues associated with an advanced tokamak reactor.« less