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Access to pedestal pressure relevant to burning plasmas on the high magnetic field tokamak Alcator C-Mod

Journal Article · · Nuclear Fusion

Here, experiments on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak have utilized reactor-relevant magnetic fields to sustain substantially higher pedestal pressure than in other devices and allow close approach to the ITER H-mode baseline target pedestal pressure of 90 kPa. The EPED model, which couples the physics of transport driven by kinetic ballooning modes and MHD instabilities arising from peeling-ballooning modes, predicts the pressure profile at the onset of edge-localized modes (ELMs), and yields to lowest order a critical-β N like behavior for the pedestal: p α Bt x BpB2t for fixed edge q). C-Mod routinely accesses edge plasma pressure in excess of 30 kPa, often by using a high-density (n¯e > 3 x 1020 m–3) approach to high confinement, taking advantage of a regime known as enhanced D-alpha (EDA) H-mode.

Research Organization:
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-09CH11466; AC05-00OR22725; FC02-06ER54873; FC02-99ER54512; FG02-95ER54309; SC0007880
OSTI ID:
1485108
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 22929543
Journal Information:
Nuclear Fusion, Journal Name: Nuclear Fusion Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 58; ISSN 0029-5515
Publisher:
IOP ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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