Download or read book National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX and Planned Research in Fusion Plasma Science written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX and Planned Research written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 5 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. fusion energy sciences program began in 1996 to increase emphasis on confinement concept innovation. The NSTX [1,2] is being built at PPPL as a national fusion science research facility in response to this emphasis. NSTX is to test fusion science principles of the Spherical Torus (ST) plasmas, which include: (1) High plasma pressure in low magnetic field for high fusion power density, (2) Good energy confinement is a small-size plasma, (3) Nearly fully self-driven (bootstrap) plasma current, (4) Dispersed heat and particle fluxes, and (5) Plasma startup without complicated inboard solenoid magnet. These properties of the ST plasma, if verified, would lead to possible future fusion devices of high fusion performance, small size, feasible power handling, and improved economy. The design of NSTX is depicted in Fig. 1. The device is designed to study plasmas with major radius up to 85 cm, minor radius up to 68 cm, elongation up to 2, with flexibility in forming double-null, single-null, and inboard limited plasmas. The nominal operation calls for a toroidal field of 0.3 T for 5 s at the major radius, and a plasma current at 1 MA with q (approximately) 10 at edge. It features a compact center stack containing the inner legs of the toroidal field coils, a full size solenoid capable of delivering 0.6 Wb induction, inboard vacuum vessel, and composite carbon tiles. The center stack can be replaced without disturbing the main device, diagnostics, and auxiliary systems. The vessel will be covered fully with graphite tiles and can be baked to 350 C. Other wall conditioning techniques are also planned.

Download or read book The National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX Research Program and Progress Towards High Beta Long PulseOperating Scenarios written by E. J. Synakowski and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX written by Masayuki Ono and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Next Step Spherical Torus Design Studies written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies are underway to identify and characterize a design point for a Next Step Spherical Torus (NSST) experiment. This would be a ''Proof of Performance'' device which would follow and build upon the successes of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) a ''Proof of Principle'' device which has operated at PPPL since 1999. With the Decontamination and Decommissioning (D & D) of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) nearly completed, the TFTR test cell and facility will soon be available for a device such as NSST. By utilizing the TFTR test cell, NSST can be constructed for a relatively low cost on a short time scale. In addition, while furthering spherical torus (ST) research, this device could achieve modest fusion power gain for short-pulse lengths, a significant step toward future large burning plasma devices now under discussion in the fusion community. The selected design point is Q=2 at HH=1.4, P subscript ''fusion''=60 MW, 5 second pulse, with R subscript ''0''=1.5 m, A=1.6, I subscript ''p''=10vMA, B subscript ''t''=2.6 T, CS flux=16 weber. Most of the research would be conducted in D-D, with a limited D-T campaign during the last years of the program.

Download or read book National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX Torus Design Fabrication and Assembly written by James H. Chrzanowski and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX Research Program and Progress Towards High Beta Long PulseOperating Scenarios written by E. J. Synakowski and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Physics Results from the National Spherical Torus Experiment written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Exploration of Spherical Torus Physics in the NSTX Device written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is being built at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to test the fusion physics principles for the Spherical Torus (ST) concept at the MA level. The NSTX nominal plasma parameters are R 0 = 85 cm, a = 67 cm, R/a greater than or equal to 1.26, B {sub T} = 3 kG, I {sub p} = 1 MA, q 95 = 14, elongation [kappa] less than or equal to 2.2, triangularity [delta] less than or equal to 0.5, and plasma pulse length of up to 5 sec. The plasma heating/current drive (CD) tools are High Harmonic Fast Wave (HHFW) (6 MW, 5 sec), Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) (5 MW, 80 keV, 5 sec), and Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI). Theoretical calculations predict that NSTX should provide exciting possibilities for exploring a number of important new physics regimes including very high plasma beta, naturally high plasma elongation, high bootstrap current fraction, absolute magnetic well, and high pressure driven sheared flow. In addition, the NSTX program plans to explore fully noninductive plasma start-up, as well as a dispersive scrape-off layer for heat and particle flux handling.

Download or read book Engineering Overview of the National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) Project will provide a national facility for the study of plasma confinement, heating, and current drive in a low-aspect-ratio, spherical torus (ST) configuration. The ST configuration is an alternate confinement concept which is characterized by high beta, high elongation, high bootstrap fraction, and low toroidal magnetic field compared to conventional tokamaks. The NSTX is the next-step ST experiment following smaller experiments such as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory CDX-U (Current Drive Experiment-Upgrade), the START (Small Tight Aspect Ratio Tokamak) at Culham Laboratory, UK, and the HIT (Helicity Injected Tokamak) at the University of Washington, and it is smaller in scale to the MAST (Meg-Amp Spherical Tokamak) machine now under construction at Culham. This paper provides a description of the NSTX mission and gives an overview of the main engineering features of the design of the machine and facility and discusses some of the key design solutions.

Download or read book EBW Bootstrap Current Synergy in the National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX written by R. W. Harvey and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book An Overview of Recent Physics Results from NSTX written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Currently, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is being upgraded to operate at twice the toroidal field and plasma current (up to 1 T and 2 MA), with a second, more tangentially aimed neutral beam (NB) for current and rotation control, allowing for pulse lengths up to 5 s. Recent NSTX physics analyses have addressed topics that will allow NSTX-Upgrade to achieve the research goals critical to a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility. These include producing stable, 100% non-inductive operation in high-performance plasmas, assessing plasma-material interface (PMI) solutions to handle the high heat loads expected in the next-step devices and exploring the unique spherical torus (ST) parameter regimes to advance predictive capability. Non-inductive operation and current profile control in NSTX-U will be facilitated by co-axial helicity injection (CHI) as well as radio frequency (RF) and NB heating. CHI studies using NIMROD indicate that the reconnection process is consistent with the 2D Sweet-Parker theory. Full-wave AORSA simulations show that RF power losses in the scrape-off layer (SOL) increase significantly for both NSTX and NSTX-U when the launched waves propagate in the SOL. Moreover, Toroidal Alfven eigenmode avalanches and higher frequency Alfven eigenmodes can affect NB-driven current through energy loss and redistribution of fast ions. The inclusion of rotation and kinetic resonances, which depend on collisionality, is necessary for predicting experimental stability thresholds of fast growing ideal wall and resistive wall modes. Neutral beams and neoclassical toroidal viscosity generated from applied 3D fields can be used as actuators to produce rotation profiles optimized for global stability. DEGAS-2 has been used to study the dependence of gas penetration on SOL temperatures and densities for the MGI system being implemented on the Upgrade for disruption mitigation. PMI studies have focused on the effect of ELMs and 3D fields on plasma detachment and heat flux handling. Simulations indicate that snowflake and impurity seeded radiative divertors are candidates for heat flux mitigation in NSTX-U. Studies of lithium evaporation on graphite surfaces indicate that lithium increases oxygen surface concentrations on graphite, and deuterium-oxygen affinity, which increases deuterium pumping and reduces recycling. In situ and test-stand experiments of lithiated graphite and molybdenum indicate temperature-enhanced sputtering, although that test-stand studies also show the potential for heat flux reduction through lithium vapour shielding. Non-linear gyro kinetic simulations have indicated that ion transport can be enhanced by a shear-flow instability, and that non-local effects are necessary to explain the observed rapid changes in plasma turbulence. Predictive simulations have shown agreement between a microtearing-based reduced transport model and the measured electron temperatures in a microtearing unstable regime. Finally, two Alfven eigenmode-driven fast ion transport models have been developed and successfully benchmarked against NSTX data. Upgrade construction is moving on schedule with initial physics research operation of NSTX-U planned for mid-2015.

Download or read book Overview of Results from the National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mission of NSTX is the demonstration of the physics basis required to extrapolate to the next steps for the spherical torus (ST), such as a plasma facing component test facility (NHTX) or an ST based component test facility (ST-CTF), and to support ITER. Key issues for the ST are transport, and steady state high [beta] operation. To better understand electron transport, a new high-k scattering diagnostic was used extensively to investigate electron gyro-scale fluctuations with varying electron temperature gradient scale-length. Results from n = 3 braking studies confirm the flow shear dependence of ion transport. New results from electron Bernstein wave emission measurements from plasmas with lithium wall coating applied indicate transmission efficiencies near 70% in H-mode as a result of reduced collisionality. Improved coupling of High Harmonic Fast-Waves has been achieved by reducing the edge density relative to the critical density for surface wave coupling. In order to achieve high bootstrap fraction, future ST designs envision running at very high elongation. Plasmas have been maintained on NSTX at very low internal inductance l{sub i} H"0.4 with strong shaping ([kappa] H"2.7, [delta] H"0.8) with [beta]{sub N} approaching the with-wall beta limit for several energy confinement times. By operating at lower collisionality in this regime, NSTX has achieved record non-inductive current drive fraction f{sub NI} H"71%. Instabilities driven by super-Alfvenic ions are an important issue for all burning plasmas, including ITER. Fast ions from NBI on NSTX are super-Alfvenic. Linear TAE thresholds and appreciable fast-ion loss during multi-mode bursts are measured and these results are compared to theory. RWM/RFA feedback combined with n = 3 error field control was used on NSTX to maintain plasma rotation with [beta] above the no-wall limit. The impact of n> 1 error fields on stability is a important result for ITER. Other highlights are: results of lithium coating experiments, momentum confinement studies, scrape-off layer width scaling, demonstration of divertor heat load mitigation in strongly shaped plasmas, and coupling of CHI plasmas to OH ramp-up. These results advance the ST towards next step fusion energy devices such as NHTX and ST-CTF.

Download or read book Progress Towards High Performance Steady state Spherical Torus written by Masayuki Ono and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Operational Regimes of the National Spherical Torus Experiment written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Recent Progress on Spherical Torus Research written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The spherical torus or spherical tokamak (ST) is a member of the tokamak family with its aspect ratio (A = R0/a) reduced to A ̃1.5, well below the normal tokamak operating range of A e"2.5. As the aspect ratio is reduced, the ideal tokamak beta? (radio of plasma to magnetic pressure) stability limit increases rapidly, approximately as? ̃1/A. The plasma current it can sustain for a given edge safety factor q-95 also increases rapidly. Because of the above, as well as the natural elongation?, which makes its plasma shape appear spherical, the ST configuration can yield exceptionally high tokamak performance in a compact geometry. Due to its compactness and high performance, the ST configuration has various near term applications, including a compact fusion neutron source with low tritium consumption, in addition to its longer term goal of attractive fusion energy power source. Since the start of the two megaampere class ST facilities in 2000, National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) in the US and Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) in UK, active ST research has been conducted worldwide. More than sixteen ST research facilities operating during this period have achieved remarkable advances in all of fusion science areas, involving fundamental fusion energy science as well as innovation. These results suggest exciting future prospects for ST research both near term and longer term. The present paper reviews the scientific progress made by the worldwide ST research community during this new mega-ampere-ST era.

Download or read book Configuration and Heating Power Dependence of Edge Parameters and H mode Dynamics in National Spherical Torus Experiment NSTX written by C. E. Bush and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: