Use of an ‘Inter-Linked' Central Solenoid for Plasma Current Ramp-Up in a Tokamak Fusion Reactor

Abstract

Use of an ‘inter-linked’ (IL) central solenoid (CS) in a tokamak fusion reactor is proposed for achieving a sufficient amount of the CS magnetic flux swing for the plasma current Ip ramp-up with keeping the reactor size reasonable. It is shown that a large amount of the flux swing by the IL-CS, compared to the conventional (C) CS, is expected for a tokamak fusion reactor with the fusion power Pfus = 2GW and the major radius Rp < 8.0m, and that the IL-CS can generate a marginal amount of the magnetic flux swing to ramp up Ip only by the inductive way for a tokamak reactor with Rp = 6.5m while the C-CS cannot a sufficient amount of the flux swing for the Ip ramp-up.