Advanced scenarios for ITER operation

Abstract

An international experiment, ITER is proposed as the next essential and critical step on the path to demonstrating the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy. ITER would give unique opportunities to explore, in reactor relevant conditions, the physics of α-particle heating, plasma turbulence and turbulent transport, stability limits to the plasma pressure and exhaust of power and particles. Improved understanding of the physical processes occurring in tokamak plasmas give enhanced confidence in ITER achieving its goals. In particular, progress has been made in research to raise the performance of tokamaks, aimed to extend the discharge pulse length towards steady-state operation (advanced scenarios). Advanced scenarios use a modified current density profile, ranging from (i) plasmas that sustain a central region with a flat current density profile (zero magnetic shear), capable of operating stationary at high plasma pressure, to (ii) discharges with an off axis maximum of the current density profile (reversed magnetic shear in the core), able to form internal transport barriers, to increase the confinement of the plasma. The physics of advanced tokamak discharges is described, together with an overview of recent results from different tokamak experiments.

arXiv comment12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France)

References in corpus (1)

• Advanced scenarios for ITER operation

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Advanced scenarios for ITER operation
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• Study of the likelihood of Alfvénic mode bifurcation in NSTX and predictions for ITER baseline scenarios
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• Role of explosive instabilities in high-$\beta$ disruptions in tokamaks
• Dynamics of an $n=1$ explosive instability and its role in high-$\beta$ disruptions
• Scale invariance and critical balance in electrostatic drift-kinetic turbulence
• Intrinsic suppression of turbulence in linear plasma devices
• Frequency multiplication with toroidal mode number of kink/fishbone modes on a static HL-2A-like tokamak
• Destabilization mechanism of the collisional microtearing mode in magnetized slab plasmas
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