H. W. Hendel

Plasma-material interactions in TFTR

This paper presents a summary of plasma-material interactions which influence the operation of TFTR with high current (≤ 2.2 MA) ohmically heated, and high-power (∼ 10 MW) neutral-beam heated plasmas. The conditioning procedures which are applied routinely to the first-wall hardware are reviewed. Fueling characteristics during gas, pellet, and neutral-beam fueling are described. Recycling coefficients near unity are observed for most gas fueled discharges. Gas fueled discharges after helium discharge conditioning of the toroidal bumper limiter, and discharges fueled by neutral beams and pellets, show R<1. In the vicinity of the gas fueled density limit (at ne = 5–6 × 1019 m−3) values of Zeff are ≦1.5. Increases in Zeff of ≦1 have been observed with neutral beam heating of 10 MW. The primary low Z impurity is carbon with concentrations decreasing from ∼10% to <1% with increasing ne. Oxygen densities tend to increase with ne, and at the ohmic plasma density limit oxygen and carbon concentrations are comparable. Chromium getter experiments and He2+/D+ plasma comparisons indicate that the limiter is the primary source of carbon and that the vessel wall is a significant source of the oxygen impurity. Metallic impurities, consisting of the vacuum vessel metals (Ni, Fe, Cr) have significant (∼10−4 ne) concentrations only at low plasma densities (ne <1019 m−3). The primary source of metallic impurities is most likely ion sputtering from metals deposited on the carbon limiter surface.

Correlations of heat and momentum transport in the TFTR tokamak

Measurements of the toroidal rotation speed vφ(r) driven by neutral beam injection in tokamak plasmas and, in particular, simultaneous profile measurements of vφ, Ti, Te, and ne, have provided new insights into the nature of anomalous transport in tokamaks. Low‐recycling plasmas heated with unidirectional neutral beam injection exhibit a strong correlation among the local diffusivities, χφ≊χi>χe. Recent measurements have confirmed similar behavior in broad‐density L‐mode plasmas. These results are consistent with the conjecture that electrostatic turbulence is the dominant transport mechanism in the tokamak fusion test reactor tokamak (TFTR) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 1004 (1987)], and are inconsistent with predictions both from test‐particle models of strong magnetic turbulence and from ripple transport. Toroidal rotation speed measurements in peaked‐density TFTR ‘‘supershots’’ with partially unbalanced beam injection indicate that momentum transport decreases as the density profile becomes more peaked. In hi...

Silicon surface barrier detector for fusion neutron spectroscopy

The usefulness of the intrinsic 28Si(n,α)25Mg and 28Si(n, p)28Al reactions in silicon surface barrier detectors for measurements of ion temperatures in D‐T fusion plasmas and of D‐T fusion neutron flux has been investigated. For a 14‐MeV neutron‐generator narrow‐energy‐line source, the energy resolution (∼1.5%), detection efficiency, and useful count rates have been determined. Based on these results, for a 100‐ms time bin, D‐T plasma ion temperatures from 2 to 6 keV can be determined from the full‐width half‐maximum (FWHM) of the neutron‐induced α spectral lines, with the error estimated to be 25% to 5%, respectively. The maximum intrinsic detection efficiency for a nominal 1500‐μm‐thick detector is ∼6×10−4.

Initial limiter and getter operation in TFTR

Abstract During the recent ohmic heating experiments on TFTR, the movable limiter array, preliminary inner bumper limiter, and prototype ZrAl alloy bulk getter surface pumping system were brought into operation. This paper summarizes the operational experience and plasma characteristics obtained with these components. The near-term upgrades of these systems are also discussed.

High power neutral beam heating experiments on TFTR with balanced and unbalanced momemtum input

New long-pulse ion sources have been employed to extend the neutral beam pulse on TFTR from 0.5 sec to 2.0 sec. This made it possible to study the long-term evolution of supershots at constant current and to perform experiments in which the plasma current was ramped up during the heating pulse. Experiments were conducted with co and counter injection as well as with nearly balanced injection of deuterium beams up to a total power of 20 MW. The best results, i.e., central ion temperatures Tio > 25 keV and neo τE Tio values of 3 × 1020 keV sec m-3, were obtained with nearly balanced injection. The central toroidal plasma rotation velocity scales in a linear-offset fashion with beam power and density. The scaling of the inferred global momentum confinement time with plasma parameters is inconsistent with the predictions of the neoclassical theory of gyroviscous damping. An interesting plasma regime with properties similar to the H-mode has been observed for limiter plasmas with edge qa just above 3 and 2.5.

Absolute calibration of neutron detection systems on TFTR and accurate comparison of source strength measurements to transport simulations (invited)

Accurate, absolutely calibrated measurements of the neutron source strength are needed for determining the quality of plasma performance, for constraining transport analysis, and for studying fast ion physics such as triton burnup. Obtaining an accurate calibration involves more than performing in situ source calibrations. Efforts on TFTR illustrate the additional need for careful detector characterization, periodic renormalization, and proper cross calibration of less sensitive detectors. Multiple detector systems have been developed on TFTR to provide redundancy and a range of energy sensitivity and time resolution. Three independently calibrated systems now agree in their determination of source strength within relative uncertainties of 15%–20%. These accurate neutron measurements can be effectively used to constrain transport simulations of neutral beam injection and test the modeling and simulation assumptions.

TFTR epithermal neutron detector system: Recalibration and effect of nonisotropic neutron emission

The primary TFTR neutron source strength measurement system consists of seven fission detectors previously calibrated with D–D and D–T neutron generators and a 252Cf neutron source inside the TFTR vacuum vessel. A recalibration became desirable because of the addition of major components to the tokamak. The new calibration with the D–D neutron generator in situ is consistent with the detection efficiencies measured in the previous calibrations, within the uncertainties. Effects of the anisotropic emission of the neutron generator, due both to the variation of the differential D–D yield with angle (similar to that from beam–target and beam–beam reactions in the beam‐driven TFTR plasma) and to scattering and absorption by the generator heads have been observed.

Transport and stability studies on TFTR

During the 1987 run, TFTR reached record values of QDD, neutron source strength, and Ti(0). Good confinement together with intense auxiliary heating has resulted in a plasma pressure greater than 3*105 Pascals on axis, which is at the ballooning stability boundary. At the same time improved diagnostics, especially ion temperature profile measurements, have led to increased understanding of tokamak confinement physics. Ion temperature profiles are much more peaked than previously thought, implying that ion thermal diffusivity, even in high ion temperature supershot plasmas, is greater than electron thermal diffusivity. Based on studies of the effect of beam orientation on plasma performance, one of the four neutral beamlines has been re-oriented from injecting co-parallel to counter parallel, which will increase the available balanced neutral injection power from 14 MW to 27 MW. With this increase in balanced beam power, and the addition of 7 MW of ICRF power it is planned to increase the present equivalant QDT of 0.25 to close to break-even conditions in the coming run.

TFTR confinement results

The characteristics of plasma operation on the axisymmetric inner toroidal limiter in TFTR are described. After conditioning, plasmas with low metal content and low zeff are obtained with this limiter. There is no substantial increase in zeff with total input power during neutral beam injection. Compared to operation on the outer blade limiter, additional gas is required to fuel plasmas on the inner limiter. Injection of D pellets increased the plasma density substantially and produced energy confinement times up to 0.5 s in ohmically heated plasmas. The four neutral beam lines have injected up to 13.5 MW total power into the plasma for 0.5 s with up to 90 kV accelerating voltage. The scaling of the plasma stored energy was studied as a function of the input power, plasma current and plasma density. In the range 1.4 to 2.2 MA, the overall and incremental confinement times for both the total and thermal stored energies increase with plasma current at fixed density. There appears to be a weak negative scaling of the total stored energy with density at high injection power.

Collimated ZnS (Ag)‐detector array for Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor neutron source strength radial profile measurements

Time‐resolved radial profile measurements of neutron source strength and Ti are required to determine ion energy balance especially during sawtooth oscillations and adiabatic compression. We describe the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) vertical multichannel (10) collimator, two channels of which are now being completed. ZnS detectors will be used (Bicron 720) to reject γ rays and scattered neutrons, and operated in both count rate and current modes. The frequency response is limited by counting statistics and sampling times, but resolves compression times ≂15–30 ms and Ti collapse times during sawtooth ≂2–3 ms. The collimator consists of the 6‐ft test cell floor plus ∼2‐ft detector shield. Detector cross talk is calculated to be negligible. The dynamic range of the detectors is ≳106, covering the range from ohmically heated deuterium (2.5 MeV neutron emissions of ≳1013 s−1) to deuterium‐beam heated tritium plasmas (14 MeV, ≲1019 s−1).