Study of current decay time during disruption in JT-60U tokamak

Abstract

An L/R model that predicts the current decay time from the circuit equation is essentially used for the design of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. In order to verify the validity of the L/R model in the determination of current decay time during disruption, the plasma current decay time in the JT-60U tokamak is studied using experimental plasma resistance and inductance. The plasma resistance during the initial phase of current quench is estimated from the electron temperature profile measured using the electron cyclotron emission diagnostic system and by measuring the He I line emission intensity ratios and plasma inductance is estimated by the Cauchy-Condition surface method using magnetic sensor signals. Further, the radiation-induced disruptive plasma discharges with massive neon gas puffing are also analysed. The observed area-normalized current decay times have a weak dependence on the electron temperature, particularly in a small decay time region (5–10 ms m−2). The observed decay times are lesser by one order of magnitude than the decay times estimated by the L/R model. However, a novel model for decay time prediction, which takes into account the time derivative of the plasma inductance, wields results that are extremely consistent with the experimental decay time.