Effects of alpha particle production on the stability of an Elmo Bumpy Torus (EBT) reactor

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5476093

Wojtowicz, D A

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) interchange stability of an ELMO Bumpy Torus (EBT) reactor configuration is investigated. Specifically, the effects of the production of ..cap alpha.. particles from the fusion reactions is studied. The ..cap alpha.. particles and hot electrons are treated using a kinetic model to include the effects of their high drift frequency and large Larmor radii. The stability regimes in ..beta../sub i/-..beta../sub h/ space are calculated for both low and high frequency modes. In the low frequency case the wave frequency is neglected when compared to the drift frequency of the hot species. The low frequency results obtain the background interchange stability limit as well as the upper limit due to the interacting interchange instability. The inclusion of ..cap alpha.. particles is found to degrade the stability by lowering the maximum ion pressure allowable in the system. The general frequency results yield instabilities found in the low frequency case and, in addition, obtain the high frequency compressional Alfven instability and the hot electron interchange mode. The hot electron and interacting interchange modes are found to merge at high values of ..beta../sub h/ and reduce the stable region as T/sub h/ is decreased. The inclusion of ..cap alpha.. particles is found to eliminate the compressional Alfven instability island in all cases and is both stabilizing and destabilizing to the upper limit depending on the ..beta../sub h/ value.

• Research Organization: Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5476093
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700101 -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Confinement
Heating
& Production
700107* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
ALPHA PARTICLES
BUMPY TORI
CHARGED PARTICLES
ELMO BUMPY TORUS
ELMO DEVICES
FREQUENCY DEPENDENCE
HEAVY ION FUSION REACTIONS
MAGNETIC MIRRORS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
PLASMA DRIFT
PRODUCTION
STABILITY
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES