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Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
G. Motojima, H. Okada, K. Y. Watanabe, Y. Nakamura, F. Sano, K. Nagasaki, T. Mizuuchi, S. Kobayashi, K. Kondo, S. Yamamoto, Y. Suzuki, K. Hanatani, Y. Torii, M. Kaneko, H. Arimoto, H. Yamazaki, S. Watanabe, T. Tsuji, H. Nakamura, H. Kitagawa, H. Yabutani, S. Fujikawa, M. Uno
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 1 | January 2007 | Pages 122-128
Technical Paper | Stellarators | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1293
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Toroidal current has been studied in electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and ECH + neutral beam injection (NBI) plasmas on Heliotron J by controlling the bumpy field component. In the ECH plasma with high density, the toroidal current increases from 0.3 to 1.5 kA when B04/B00 is increased from 0.01 to 0.15, where B04 and B00 are the bumpy field and the uniform field components, respectively. The observed toroidal current is qualitatively in good agreement with neoclassical calculation results without radial electric field except for a low bumpy configuration case at low density. If the radial electric field is responsible for the deviation in the low bumpiness case, the central electric potential is estimated to be ~3 to 5 kV. The dependence of the net toroidal current on the bumpiness has also been observed in the ECH + NBI plasma. An estimation of the Ohkawa current has been attempted.