Session RP1 - Poster Session VIII.
POSTER session, Thursday afternoon, October 30
Fran Hill Southeast Exhibit Hall, ACC
The National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) is being developed to explore the high-\beta stability and confinement of a quasi-axisymmetric stellarator with average aspect ratio 4.4. It is designed to be passively stable to the ballooning, kink, vertical, Mercier, and neoclassical tearing modes for \beta > 4% without the need for external feedback or conducting walls. The bootstrap current generates only 1/4 of the magnetic rotational transform at \beta = 4% (the rest is from the coils). As a consequence, stability properties are relatively insensitive to the pressure profile shape. The quasi-axisymmetric magnetic field produces thermal neoclassical transport similar to equivalent tokamaks and adequate fast-ion confinement. It also produces low damping of flows in the toroidal direction. The consequence of the low toroidal flow damping on the expected turbulence will be discussed. The coils have been designed to provide good flux surfaces and to flexibly investigate the predicted MHD stability and transport properties. Prototypes of the coils and vacuum vessel are under construction. Fabrication of the production coils and vessel is scheduled to start next year. Development of a national team for research and diagnostic development will also begin next year.