High beta and confinement studies of TFTR

Abstract

The project discussed in this report are: Enhanced High Poloidal Beta Operation in TFTR with Deuterium Pellet Injection; Approaching High Q by Utilizing High [beta][sub p] Operation in TFTR; Advanced Tokamak Regime Experiment, and Second Regime Studies at large Major Radius High [beta][sub p] Plasmas. Analysis of the data taken during these experiments as well as continuing analysis of earlier data led to a number important results described in publications in the past year including two invited presentations at the 1992 American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics Meeting in Seattle an oral presentation at the 1992 IAEA Meeting in Wuertzburg, Germany, and a Physical Review Letter. These results included extending the high 11/2 regime to 1.2 MA current and neutron production rates to more than 3 [times] 10[sup 16] sec[sup [minus]]1; the first experiments with 4 sec neutral beam injection on TFRR; the creation of the first beam and bootstrap current sustained plasmas on TFTR for more than a current relaxation time scale; the first observation of ideal NM ballooning modes in a large tokamak; and production of plasmas with the inner 3/4 of the plasma in or with stable access to the second stability regime. The principal results of these papers and supporting theory work are summarized below.