The Texas Experimental Tokamak: A plasma research facility. A proposal submitted to the Department of Energy in response to Program Notice 95-10: Innovations in toroidal magnetic confinement systems

Abstract

The Fusion Research Center (FRC) at the University Texas will operate the tokamak TEXT-U and its associated systems for experimental research in basic plasma physics. While the tokamak is not innovative, the research program, diagnostics and planned experiments are. The fusion community will reap the benefits of the success in completing the upgrades (auxiliary heating, divertor, diagnostics, wall conditioning), developing diverted discharges in both double and single null configurations, exploring improved confinement regimes including a limiter H-mode, and developing unique, critical turbulence diagnostics. With these new regimes, the authors are poised to perform the sort of turbulence and transport studies for which the TEXT group has distinguished itself and for which the upgrade was intended. TEXT-U is also a facility for collaborators to perform innovative experiments and develop diagnostics before transferring them to larger machines. The general philosophy is that the understanding of plasma physics must be part of any intelligent fusion program, and that basic experimental research is the most important part of any such program. The emphasis of the proposed research is to provide well-documented plasmas which will be used to suggest and evaluate theories, to explore control techniques, to develop advanced diagnostics and analysis techniques, and to extend current drive techniques. Up to 1 MW of electron cyclotron heating (ECH) will be used not only for heating but as a localized, perturbative tool. Areas of proposed research are: (1) core turbulence and transport; (2) edge turbulence and transport; (3) turbulence analysis; (4) improved confinement; (5) ECH physics; (6) Alfven wave current drive; and (7) diagnostic development.