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

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thE coMpact toRuS: FRc aNd SphERoMak<br />

introduction<br />

The mission of compact torus (ct) research is to:<br />

Develop a compact magnetic fusion reactor without toroidal field coils or a central solenoid.<br />

Progress in this mission is supported by the iteR-era goal established by taP:<br />

To demonstrate that a CT with a simply connected vessel can achieve stable, sustained or long pulsed plasmas<br />

at kilovolt temperatures, with favorable confinement scaling to proceed to a pre-burning CT plasma<br />

experiment.<br />

a ct has a toroidal magnetic and plasma geometry, but is contained within a simply connected<br />

vacuum vessel such as a cylinder or sphere. spheromaks and field-reversed configurations fall into<br />

this category. compact tori have high plasma and engineering betas, potentially obtaining highpower<br />

density at relatively low magnetic fields. The primary benefit of cts <strong>for</strong> fusion is the absence<br />

of toroidal field coils, simplifying solutions to many engineering problems. studying highbeta,<br />

fusion-relevant plasma in simply connected geometries af<strong>for</strong>ds both physics and technology<br />

opportunities not found in other configurations, in a program in which the Us is the world leader.<br />

The ct program currently consists of experiments at the concept exploration level, involving both<br />

the spheromak and the FRc, and other hybrid configurations may be possible. ct funding has traditionally<br />

been a small part of the alternate concepts program, but both the spheromak and FRc<br />

configurations have made substantial plasma physics progress in recent years, pointing the way<br />

to future research on ct science and technology opportunities.<br />

Axial-eld<br />

bias coils<br />

Figure 6. On the left is the field-reversed configuration and on the right is the spheromak configuration. No<br />

physical structure links the plasma torus in these configurations.<br />

213<br />

Spheromak plasma with<br />

magnetic eld lines<br />

Flux<br />

Conserver

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