The development of low aspect ratio tokamaks in Russia

The Russian program for development of low aspect ratio tokamaks (spherical tokamaks) is presented. The urgency of the theme is conditioned by the results of theoretical research and experimental data obtained from small-scale installations where the direction has proved to be greatly promising. The present work describes a number of spherical tokamak projects governed by certain logic. The intended research is supposed to solve the issues of maintaining the advantages of such tokamaks for mega-ampere range installations, overcoming the current difficulties typical for such tokamaks, and, finally, considering the possibility of building an inexpensive compact thermonuclear reactor.