The stability of advanced operational regimes on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

The performance of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor [D. Meade and the TFTR Group, in Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Washington, D.C., 1990 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1991), Vol. I, pp. 9–24], as defined by the maximum fusion power production, has been limited, not by confinement, but by stability to pressure-driven modes. Two classes of current profile modification have been investigated to overcome this limit. A new technique has been developed to increase the internal inductance of low-q (q≈4), high-current (Ip>2MA) plasmas. As was the case at higher edge q, the disruptive β limit has been found to increase roughly linearly with the internal inductance, li. Plasmas with hollow current profiles, i.e., reversed shear, are also predicted and experimentally observed to have increased stability in the negative shear region to ballooning and kink modes. However, performance of these plasmas is still limited by pressure-driven modes in the normal shear region.