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November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Researchers use one-of-a-kind expertise and capabilities to test fuels of tomorrow
At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.
Yasunori Ohkuma, Kiyomitsu Suzuki, Yasuyuki Nogi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 27 | Number 3 | April 1995 | Pages 357-360
Compact Torus (Field-Reversed Configuration, Spheromak) Concepts | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A11947105
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A rotational instability is observed in a field-reversed configuration plasma. Onset time, growth rate and modal frequency of the instability are measured in connection with the ion diamagnetic drift frequency over a wide range of plasma parameters. When the plasma is stabilized by a quadrupole field, it shrinks axially with time and its particle confinement time becomes shorter than that of a nonstabilized plasma. A numerical calculation of the field profile reveals that the distortion of the confinement field by the quadrupole field at the ends of the separatrix is responsible for the degradation of particle confinement. However, the multipole field with a higher pole number than the quadrupole can stabilize the plasma without degradation of the particle confinement.