William Iliffe Simon Chislett-McDonald Fiona Harden Kirk Adams James Tufnail Chris Grovenor Susannah Speller Aidan Reilly Ezzat Nasr
The UKAEA’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) program aims to demonstrate the ability of a low aspect ratio tokamak to generate net electricity from deuterium-tritium fusion. Specifically, its aim is to deliver a prototype fusion power plant, targeting 2040, and a path to the commercial viability of fusion, by engaging with and invig…
PreprintM. Fontana G. Giruzzi F. P. Orsitto E. de la Luna R. Dumont L. Figini D. Kos M. Maslov S. Schmuck L. Senni C. Sozzi C. Challis D. Frigione J. Garcia L. Garzotti J. Hobirk A. Kappatou D. Keeling E. Lerche C. Maggi J. Mailloux F. Rimini D. Van Eester
The present paper is dedicated to the study of the discrepancies encountered in electron temperatures (Te) measurements carried out with Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) and Thomson Scattering (TS) diagnostics in the core of the JET tokamak. A large database of discharges has been collected, including high-performance scenarios perform…
PreprintChris Brown Hanni Lux James Cowan
Developments in fusion energy technology and the aspiration to build and run commercial fusion energy power plants has seen the commencement of numerous publicly and privately funded projects in recent years. Megaprojects, like fusion power plants, by their very nature are inherently complex and risky, therefore providing a robust cost estimate in …
PreprintV.G. Kiptily P.J. Bonofiglo T. Craciunescu J. Eriksson M. Fitzgerald V. Goloborodko M. Nocente S. Menmuir M. Podestà M. Poradzinski D. Rigamonti Z. Stancar S.E. Sharapov H. Sun D.M. Taylor M. Tardocchi P. Beaumont F. Belli F.E. Cecil C.D. Challis R. Coelho M. Curuia R. Dumont J. Garcia M. Garcia-Munoz Z. Ghani Ye. Kazakov D. Keeling E. Lerche C.F. Maggi J. Mailloux P. Mantica M.J. Mantsinen D. Marocco C. Perez von Thun F. Rimini
The fusion reaction between deuterium and tritium, D(T,n)4He is the main source of energy in future thermonuclear reactors. Charged fusion products of this reaction, α-particles (4He-ions), are born with an average energy of 3.5 MeV. Transferring energy to the thermal plasma during their slowing down, the…
PreprintD. Kennedy M. Giacomin B. S. Patel W. A. Hornsby D. Dickinson C. M. Roach
We present herein the results of a linear gyrokinetic analysis of electromagnetic microinstabilites in the conceptual high−β, reactor-scale, tight-aspect-ratio tokamak STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, https://step.ukaea.uk). We examine a range of flux surfaces between the deep core and the pedestal top for the two candidate flat…
Preprint PublishedM. Giacomin D. Kennedy C. J. Ajay D. Dickinson B. S. Patel C. M. Roach
In this work, we present the results of first-of-their-kind nonlinear local gyrokinetic simulations of electromagnetic turbulence at mid-radius in the burning plasma phase of the conceptual high-β, reactor-scale, tight-aspect-ratio tokamak STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production). A prior linear analysis in D.Kennedy et al. submitted to Nucl…
PreprintJ.F. Rivero-Rodriguez J. Galdon-Quiroga J. Dominguez-Palacios M. Garcia-Muñoz D. Garcia-Vallejo J. Gonzalez-Martin K. McClements L. Sanchis K. Sarkimaki A. Snicker Y. Todo L. Velarde E. Viezzer
Observations of enhanced fast-ion losses during edge localized modes (ELMs) have been reported in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak, revealing losses above the injection energy. This suggests that fast ions can be accelerated and lost by the ELMs. Recent analysis delves into the analysis of the ELM-induced losses, suggesting that the fast ions are los…
Preprint PublishedJ Teah S Wray
Cryogenics are widely used in tokamak fusion reactors in three main areas. Firstly, to provide cooling to superconducting magnets for plasma confinement. Secondly, to provide the required level of vacuum in the plasma vessel through cryogenic vacuum technology. Thirdly, as part of the fusion fuel cycle, including matter injection, typically…
PreprintA.N. Petrov S. Wray K. Zarebski T. Stroud J. Acres T. Owoeye M. Cannon F. Christie T. Jackson V. Laksharam S. Stewart R. Griffiths N. Brewer K. Rochford S. Gribben
The work presented in this paper is an integrated time-dependent model, describing the power demands of the major tokamak components (magnets, cryogenics, heating and current drive, etc.), as well as the power generated. The physics are implemented in OpenModelica and make use of a Python API (Application Programming Interface) to collect inputs, r…
PreprintR. T. Osawa D. Moulton S. L. Newton S. Henderson B. Lipschultz A. Hudoba
To mitigate the issue of plasma exhaust in reactor scale tight aspect ratio tokamaks such as STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), a double-null (DN) configuration is thought to be advantageous over a single-null (SN) configuration. However, practical control of the plasma vertical stability will likely lead to an oscillation around th…
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