Abstract
Experiments in the DIII-D tokamak have demonstrated the ability to sustain ELMing H-mode discharges with high beta and good confinement quality under stationary conditions. These experiments have shown the ability to sustain normalized fusion performance (in terms of βN H 89P/q952) at or above that projected for Q fus = 10 operation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) design over a wide range in operating parameters. In the best cases, operation is maintained at the free boundary, n = 1 stability limit. Confinement is found to be better than standard H-mode confinement scalings over a wide range in operation space, and experimentally measured transport is consistent with predictions from the GLF23 transport code. Projections using the standard ITER H-mode scaling laws based on these discharges indicate that Qfus = 5 can be maintained for >5400 s in ITER at q95 = 4.5 while Qfus = 40 can be obtained for ∼ 2400 s at q 95 = 3.2. These projected performance levels further validate the ITER design and suggest that long-pulse, high neutron fluence operation as well as very high fusion gain operation may be possible in next-generation tokamaks.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1199-1211 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Fusion Science and Technology |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2005 |
Keywords
- ITER
- Steady-state operation
- Tokamak