Title :
National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) construction, commissioning, and initial operations
Author_Institution :
Plasma Phys. Lab., Princeton Univ., NJ, USA
Abstract :
The NSTX is a new 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 magnetic confinement concept which is characterized by high β (ratio plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure) and low toroidal field compared to conventional tokamaks, and could provide a pathway to the realization of a practical fusion power source. Engineering design began in October 1995. Installation of the torus in the test cell began in October 1998. First plasma was achieved in February 1999. Following this event, with the completion of the installation of the internal hardware and RF antenna over the summer of 1999, the construction project has been declared complete, and the machine has been restarted. Operation of the machine, and production of plasma, has been quite reliable, and the experimental campaign has now begun. This paper reports on highlights of the construction, commissioning, and initial operations
Keywords :
commissioning; fusion reactor design; fusion reactor operation; plasma toroidal confinement; NSTX; National Spherical Torus Experiment; commissioning; construction; initial operation; spherical torus; Design engineering; Hardware; Heating; Magnetic confinement; Plasma confinement; Plasma sources; Power engineering and energy; Testing; Tokamaks; Toroidal magnetic fields;
Conference_Titel :
Fusion Engineering, 1999. 18th Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Albuquerque, NM
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5829-5
DOI :
10.1109/FUSION.1999.849792
