Dynamics of high energy runaway electrons in the Oak Ridge tokamak

Abstract

Runaway electrons produced during normal discharges in the Oak Ridge Tokamak (ORMAK) have been studied with a hard x-ray diagnostic system along with most of the other diagnostics available on this machine. It is found that runaways can attain maximum energies of up to 10 MeV and be contained over times of typically 50 msec. A simple physical model is proposed that is consistent with most of the observed high energy runaway phenomena. Some properties of the overall runaway distribtion generated in tokamaks are inferred from these results and are discussed in terms of runaway generation, acceleration, and transport.