High beta studies on ISX-B with neutral beam injection

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5125086

Sheffield, J; Bates, S C; Bush, C E

Injection of H/sup 0/ into D/sup +/ plasmas with beam power P/sub b/ of up to 1.7 MW has produced rms betas of approx. 4%, volume-averaged betas of approx. 3%, and central betas of approx. 10% in the ISX-B tokamak. Although theoretical calculations indicate that the observed equilibria may be unstable to ballooning modes, no catastrophic loss of confinement has been observed, and beta continues to increase with injection power. In these beam-dominated high-beta discharges the electron and ion energy confinement times are still similar to those obtained with ohmic heating: ion energy confinement is neoclassical within a factor of approx. 2, and electron energy confinement follows the usual Alcator scaling. In high-power injection discharges the character of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) behavior changes, the particle confinement time decreases, and the inward impurity transport appears to be inhibited. These effects, however, may not be linked directly to beta.

• Research Organization: Junta de Energia Nuclear, Madrid (Spain); Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokyo
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5125086
• Report Number(s): CONF-800932-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700101* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Confinement
Heating
& Production
BEAM INJECTION
BETA RATIO
CONFINEMENT
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
DEUTERIUM
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
ISX TOKAMAK
LIGHT NUCLEI
NEUTRAL ATOM BEAM INJECTION
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
STABLE ISOTOPES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS