Liquid Lithium Limiter Experiments in CDX-U
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Recent experiments in the Current Drive Experiment-Upgrade provide a first-ever test of large area liquid lithium surfaces as a tokamak first wall, to gain engineering experience with a liquid metal first wall, and to investigate whether very low recycling plasma regimes can be accessed with lithium walls. The CDX-U is a compact (R = 34 cm, a = 22 cm, B{sub toroidal} = 2 kG, I{sub P} = 100 kA, T{sub e}(0) = 100 eV, n{sub e}(0) {approx} 5 x 10{sup 19} m{sup -3}) spherical torus at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. A toroidal liquid lithium tray limiter with an area of 2000 cm{sup 2} (half the total plasma limiting surface) has been installed in CDX-U. Tokamak discharges which used the liquid lithium limiter required a fourfold lower loop voltage to sustain the plasma current, and a factor of 5-8 increase in gas fueling to achieve a comparable density, indicating that recycling is strongly reduced. Modeling of the discharges demonstrated that the lithium-limited discharges are consistent with Z{sub effective} < 1.2 (compared to 2.4 for the pre-lithium discharges), a broadened current channel, and a 25% increase in the core electron temperature. Spectroscopic measurements indicate that edge oxygen and carbon radiation are strongly reduced.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab., Princeton, NJ (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03073
- OSTI ID:
- 836095
- Report Number(s):
- PPPL-4018
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Recent Liquid Lithium Limiter Experiments in CDX-U
Plasma Performance Improvements with Liquid Lithium Limiters in CDX-U
CDX-U Operation with a Large Area Liquid Lithium Limiter
Technical Report
·
Tue May 03 00:00:00 EDT 2005
·
OSTI ID:839533
Plasma Performance Improvements with Liquid Lithium Limiters in CDX-U
Technical Report
·
Fri Jul 12 00:00:00 EDT 2002
·
OSTI ID:808371
CDX-U Operation with a Large Area Liquid Lithium Limiter
Technical Report
·
Fri Jul 12 00:00:00 EDT 2002
·
OSTI ID:808373