A Review of NSTX Research 1999-2015

Authors:  S. M. Kaye

Abstract:  Introduction - The National Spherical Torus eXperiment (NSTX) was a medium-sized Spherical Tokamak (ST) whose aim is to:  1. Establish attractive ST operating scenarios and configurations 2. Complement tokamak physics and support ITER  3. Understand the unique physics properties of the ST.  The goal of the first mission element is to utilize advantages of the ST configuration for addressing key gaps between ITER performance and the expected performance of an ST based FNSF1 or ST based DEMO2.  One such gap is fully non-inductive operation.  To achieve the second mission element, NSTX would exploit unique ST features to improve tokamak understanding, such as by leveraging the unique ST parameter range to benchmark and validate theories that could then be used to predict performance in future devices.  Furthermore, NSTX would contribute to ITER final design activities and research preparation.  The unique ST properties consist of large toroidicity, very high βT, high vfast/vAlfven and high ExB shearing rate.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Download PPPL-5223 (pdf 20.5 MB  65 pp)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________