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Title: Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Applying Static Magnetic Fields That Align Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents [Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Magnetically Aligning Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents]

Abstract

The international ITER tokamak has the objective of demonstrating the scientific feasibility of magnetic confinement fusion as a source of energy. A concern towards the achievement of this goal is represented by major disruptions: complete losses of confinement often initiated by a non-rotating ('locked') magnetic island created by magnetic reconnection. During disruptions, energy and particles accumulated in the plasma volume over many seconds are lost in a few milliseconds and released on the plasma-facing materials. In addition, multi-MA level currents flowing in the tokamak plasma for its sustainment and confinement are lost, also in milliseconds, thus terminating the plasma discharge and causing electromagnetic stresses that, if unmitigated, could lead to excessive device wear. Moreover it is shown that magnetic perturbations can be used to avoid disruptions by "guiding" the magnetic island to lock in a position where it is accessible to millimetre wave beams that fully stabilize it.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  2. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1376858
Grant/Contract Number:  
FC02-04ER54698
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 17; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Volpe, F. A., Hyatt, Alan, La Haye, Robert J., Lanctot, Matthew J., Lohr, John, Prater, Ronald, Strait, Edward J., and Welander, Anders. Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Applying Static Magnetic Fields That Align Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents [Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Magnetically Aligning Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents]. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.175002.
Volpe, F. A., Hyatt, Alan, La Haye, Robert J., Lanctot, Matthew J., Lohr, John, Prater, Ronald, Strait, Edward J., & Welander, Anders. Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Applying Static Magnetic Fields That Align Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents [Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Magnetically Aligning Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents]. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.175002
Volpe, F. A., Hyatt, Alan, La Haye, Robert J., Lanctot, Matthew J., Lohr, John, Prater, Ronald, Strait, Edward J., and Welander, Anders. Mon . "Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Applying Static Magnetic Fields That Align Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents [Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Magnetically Aligning Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents]". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.175002. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1376858.
@article{osti_1376858,
title = {Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Applying Static Magnetic Fields That Align Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents [Avoiding Tokamak Disruptions by Magnetically Aligning Locked Modes with Stabilizing Wave-Driven Currents]},
author = {Volpe, F. A. and Hyatt, Alan and La Haye, Robert J. and Lanctot, Matthew J. and Lohr, John and Prater, Ronald and Strait, Edward J. and Welander, Anders},
abstractNote = {The international ITER tokamak has the objective of demonstrating the scientific feasibility of magnetic confinement fusion as a source of energy. A concern towards the achievement of this goal is represented by major disruptions: complete losses of confinement often initiated by a non-rotating ('locked') magnetic island created by magnetic reconnection. During disruptions, energy and particles accumulated in the plasma volume over many seconds are lost in a few milliseconds and released on the plasma-facing materials. In addition, multi-MA level currents flowing in the tokamak plasma for its sustainment and confinement are lost, also in milliseconds, thus terminating the plasma discharge and causing electromagnetic stresses that, if unmitigated, could lead to excessive device wear. Moreover it is shown that magnetic perturbations can be used to avoid disruptions by "guiding" the magnetic island to lock in a position where it is accessible to millimetre wave beams that fully stabilize it.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.175002},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 17,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Helical variation of density profiles and fluctuations in the tokamak pedestal with applied 3D fields and implications for confinement
journal, May 2018

  • Wilcox, R. S.; Rhodes, T. L.; Shafer, M. W.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 5
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RF current condensation in magnetic islands and associated hysteresis phenomena
journal, September 2019

  • Rodríguez, E.; Reiman, A. H.; Fisch, N. J.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.5118424

Relationship between locked modes and thermal quenches in DIII-D
journal, March 2018


Suppression of explosive bursts triggered by neo-classical tearing mode in reversed magnetic shear tokamak plasmas via ECCD
journal, June 2018


Plasma response to rotating resonant magnetic perturbations with a locked mode in the J-TEXT tokamak
journal, January 2019


Progress in disruption prevention for ITER
journal, June 2019


A new stabilizing regime of tearing mode entrainment in the presence of a static error field
journal, September 2019


Effects of resonant magnetic perturbation on locked mode of neoclassical tearing modes
journal, April 2019

  • Tang, Weikang; Wei, Lai; Wang, Zhengxiong
  • Plasma Science and Technology, Vol. 21, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab0a18

Effects of resonant magnetic perturbation on locked mode of neo-classical tearing modes
text, January 2019