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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
G. Y. Fu, M. Isaev, L. P. Ku, M. Mikhailov, M. H. Redi, R. Sanchez, A. Subbotin, W. A. Cooper, S. P. Hirshman, D. A. Monticello, A. Reiman, M. Zarnstorff
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 2 | February 2007 | Pages 218-231
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1300
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) is extensively analyzed using the most advanced three-dimensional MHD codes. It is shown that the NCSX is stable to finite-n MHD modes, including the vertical mode, external kink modes and ballooning modes. However, high-n external kink modes that peak near the plasma edge are found to be weakly unstable. A global calculation shows that finite-n ballooning modes are significantly more stable than the local infinite-n modes.