Equilibrium, confinement and stability of runaway electrons in tokamaks

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7275372· OSTI ID:7275372

Spong, D A

Some of the ramifications of the runaway population in tokamak experiments are investigated. Consideration is given both to the normal operating regime of tokamaks where only a small fraction of high energy runaways are present and to the strong runaway regime where runaways are thought to carry a significant portion of the toroidal current. In particular, the areas to be examined are the modeling of strong runaway discharges, single particle orbit characteristics of runaways, macroscopic beam-plasma equilibria, and stability against kink modes. A simple one-dimensional, time-dependent model has been constructed in relation to strong runaway discharges. Single particle orbits are analyzed in relation to both the strong runaway regime and the weak regime. The effects of vector E x vector B drifts are first considered in strong runaway discharges and are found to lead to a slow inward shrinkage of the beam. Macroscopic beam-plasma equilibria are treated assuming a pressureless relativistic beam with inertia and using an ideal MHD approximation for the plasma. The stability of a toroidal relativistic beam against kink perturbations is examined using several models. (MOW)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7275372
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-5147; TRN: 76-015857
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis. Submitted to Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
TOKAMAK DEVICES
RUNAWAY ELECTRONS
KINK INSTABILITY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
INSTABILITY
LEPTONS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
700107* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Instabilities