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Research Needs for Magnetic Fusion Energy Sciences - US Burning ...

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Compact torus<br />

a compact torus (ct) is a toroidal plasma configuration, but no physical structure threads or<br />

links the hole in the plasma. compact tori are <strong>for</strong>med in cylindrical chambers, greatly simplifying<br />

assembly and maintenance. There are two distinct ct types: the (i) field-reversed configuration<br />

(FRc) and the (ii) spheromak. The FRc has the highest possible value of beta (ratio of thermal<br />

plasma pressure to magnetic pressure) <strong>for</strong> confined plasmas. it is diamagnetic, with a plasma<br />

current perpendicular to the magnetic field. The spheromak has moderately high beta, and<br />

like the RFP, the plasma current generates most of the magnetic field. These features could lead<br />

to compact fusion systems with properties that promote high availability. highlights in ct research<br />

include:<br />

FrC<br />

• high-density, high-temperature FRcs have been routinely produced in field-reversed<br />

theta-pinch devices. in the large S experiment, a 1.0×1021 m –3 density, 0.575 kev electron<br />

temperature, and 1.225 kev ion temperature were simultaneously obtained in a transient<br />

discharge; in the FRX-l experiment, much larger densities at lower temperature were<br />

obtained.<br />

• FRcs that overcome impurity radiation barriers and have t e +t i > 0.2 kev have been<br />

produced and sustained using low-megawatt, steady-state power. The required excellent<br />

vacuum environment has been obtained via baking and glow discharge cleaning. titanium<br />

gettering has eliminated uncontrolled recycling so that FRcs can now be fueled by gas<br />

puffing. (tcsU experiment).<br />

• FRcs <strong>for</strong>med and sustained by rotating magnetic fields are found to have central<br />

conductivity ~5 times higher than the average, edge-dominated value. (tcsU experiment).<br />

• electron temperatures > 0.3 kev have been sustained <strong>for</strong> >3 ms in small plasma columns<br />

heated by

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