Saturation levels of neoclassical tearing modes in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor plasmas

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2001667· OSTI ID:20764438

Luetjens, Hinrich; Luciani, Jean-Francois ^[1]

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1. Centre de Physique Theorique, CNRS UMR-7644, Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)

For the future ITER tokamak (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) plasmas [R. Aymar et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 1301 (2001)] a simple and robust theoretical model for the prediction of the dynamics of neoclassical tearing modes (NTM) is a crucial topic. Presently, this theory is incomplete. Using full magnetohydrodynamic simulations, saturated NTM island widths significantly smaller than those predicted by any existing NTM theory are found. Nevertheless, these islands are sufficiently large to potentially alter the plasma confinement. Some reasons for the departure of the simulation results from the theoretical predictions are suggested and issues to be addressed to achieve a quantitative model are indicated.

• OSTI ID: 20764438
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 12; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ITER TOKAMAK
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
NEOCLASSICAL TRANSPORT THEORY
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA SIMULATION
TEARING INSTABILITY
WIDTH