The prospects for magnetohydrodynamic stability in advanced tokamak regimes

Journal Article · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Physics of Plasmas; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.870660· OSTI ID:5006830

Manickam, J; Chance, M S; Jardin, S C; Kessel, C; Monticello, D; Pomphrey, N; Reiman, A; Wang, C; Zakharov, L E ^[1]

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1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)

Stability analysis of advanced regime tokamaks is presented. Here advanced regimes are defined to include configurations where the ratio of the bootstrap current, [ital I][sub BS], to the total plasma current, [ital I][sub [ital p]], approaches unity, and the normalized stored energy, [beta][sub [ital N]][sup *] = 80[pi][l angle][ital p][sup 2][r angle][sup 1/2][ital a]/[ital I][sub [ital pB][sub 0]], has a value greater than 4.5. Here, [ital p] is the plasma pressure, [ital a] the minor radius in meters, [ital I][sub [ital p]] is in mega-amps, [ital B][sub 0] is the magnetic field in Tesla, and [l angle][center dot][r angle] represents a volume average. Specific scenarios are discussed in the context of Toroidal Physics Experiment (TPX) [[ital Proceedings] [ital of] [ital the] 20[ital th] [ital European] [ital Physical] [ital Society] [ital Conference] [ital on] [ital Controlled] [ital Fusion] [ital and] [ital Plasma] [ital Physics], Lisbon, 1993, edited by J. A. Costa Cabral, M. E. Manso, F. M. Serra, and F. C. Schuller (European Physical Society, Petit-Lancy, 1993), p. I-80]. The best scenario is one with reversed shear, in the [ital q] profile, in the central region of the tokamak. The bootstrap current obtained from the plasma profiles provides 90% of the required current, and is well aligned with the optimal current profile for ideal magnetohydrodynamic stability. This configuration is stable up to [beta][sub [ital N]][sup *][approx] 6.8, if the external boundary conditions are relaxed to those corresponding to an ideal structure at a moderate distance of approximately 1.3 times the minor radius.

• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 5006830
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas; (United States), Vol. 1:5; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
TOKAMAK DEVICES
MHD EQUILIBRIUM
BOOTSTRAP CURRENT
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA PRESSURE
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
CONFINEMENT
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
EQUILIBRIUM
INSTABILITY
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
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