The role of kinetic effects, including plasma rotation and energetic particles, in resistive wall mode stability

Journal Article · Sun Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3474925· OSTI ID:21432223

Berkery, J W; Sabbagh, S A; Reimerdes, H ^[1]; Betti, R; Hu, B; Bell, R E ^[2]; Gerhardt, S P; Manickam, J; Podesta, M ^[3]

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1. Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)
2. Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623 (United States)
3. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)

The resistive wall mode (RWM) instability in high-beta tokamaks is stabilized by energy dissipation mechanisms that depend on plasma rotation and kinetic effects. Kinetic modification of ideal stability calculated with the 'MISK' code [B. Hu et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 057301 (2005)] is outlined. For an advanced scenario ITER [R. Aymar et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 1301 (2001)] plasma, the present calculation finds that alpha particles are required for RWM stability at presently expected levels of plasma rotation. Kinetic stabilization theory is tested in an experiment in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) [M. Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)] that produced marginally stable plasmas with various energetic particle contents. Plasmas with the highest and lowest energetic particle content agree with calculations predicting that increased energetic particle pressure is stabilizing but does not alter the nonmonotonic dependence of stability on plasma rotation due to thermal particle resonances. Presently, the full MISK model, including thermal particles and an isotropic slowing-down distribution function for energetic particles, overpredicts stability in NSTX experiments. Minor alteration of either effect in the theory may yield agreement; several possibilities are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21432223
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3474925; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALPHA PARTICLES
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
ITER TOKAMAK
NSTX DEVICE
PLASMA INSTABILITY
ROTATION
WALL EFFECTS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
FUNCTIONS
INSTABILITY
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MOTION
PLASMA
RADIATIONS
SPHEROMAK DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS