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Fusion Science and Technology
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Nicholas Tsoulfanidis—ANS member since 1969
As an undergraduate I studied physics at the University of Athens. I entered the university in 1955 after successfully passing a national exam (came up fourth in a field of about 700 candidates). Upon graduation and finishing my mandatory two-year military service, the plan was to teach physics either in a public high school or as a tutor for a private for-profit institution, preparing high school students for the national exam.
Dennis Mueller, Michael G. Bell, Eric Fredrickson, Alan C. Janos, Forrest C. Jobes, Larry C. Johnson, E. John Lawson, Robert Marsala, David Kingston Owens, Hyeon Park, Alan T. Ramsey, Thomas Senko, Hironori Takahashi, Gary Taylor, King-Lap Wong
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 2 | November 1996 | Pages 251-257
Technical Paper | Special Section: Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks / Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A30754
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Disruptions on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), especially those occurring at high stored energy, result in lost experimental run time because many discharges are required to regain wall conditions necessary for good plasma performance. A variety of disruption types have been observed on TFTR. These include density-limit disruptions, those caused by a high influx of impurities, those occurring during the current ramp-down, those resulting from locked modes, and those occurring at high normalized β(βN = βTaBT/Ip). A combination of operational experience and limiter development has helped to avoid many potential disruptions. However, the experimental goal of high fusion power production engenders the risk of high-βN disruptions. A system to limit βN by reducing the neutral beam power as a preprogrammed βN limit is reached is now in use to help avoid high-βN disruptions. Operational issues of disruption avoidance, the βN feedback system, the limitations and possible improvements of the system are discussed.