Session KP01 - Poster Session III.
POSTER session, Tuesday afternoon, March 23
Exhibit Hall, GWCC
NSTX will be the first high-power, low aspect ratio device to operate in the U.S. It's multi-purpose mission is to explore physics in such areas as confinement and transport, MHD stability, non-inductive startup and current maintenance, and in the scrape-off layer and plasma edge in this new regime of operation. To accomplish it's mission, NSTX will be capable of operating with Ip=1 MA, Bt=0.3 T, R/a=0.86m/0.68m=1.3, and elongations up to 2.2. The device is outfitted with a set of close-fitting conducting plates to aid in plasma stability, and a divertor for handling escaping heat and particle flux. Up to 11 MW of auxiliary heating power will be provided by High Harmonic Fast Waves and Neutral Beam Injection. The HHFW and NBI will provide current drive for non-inductive current sustainment, and Co-axial Helicity Injection will be employed for non-inductive startup and sustainment. By operating at high-q (qpsi~10), high-betat (40%) discharges can be produced that also have high bootstrap current fractions (~70%), aiding in the non-inductive current sustainment. Furthermore, disruption effects are expected to be minimized with this high-q operation. The NSTX research program will be carried out by a nationally-based collaboration team. This poster will present details of the physics mission, device capabilities, and research plan for NSTX, along with results from initial plasma operation, scheduled for mid-Feb. 1999.