Status and Plans for the National Spherical Torus Experimental Research Facility

An overview of the research capabilities and the future plans on the MA-class National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at Princeton is presented. NSTX research is exploring the scientific benefits of modifying the field line structure from that in more conventional aspect ratio devices, such as the tokamak. The relevant scientific issues pursued on NSTX include energy confinement, MHD stability at high beta, non-inductive sustainment, solenoid-free start-up, and power and particle handling. In support of the NSTX research goal, research tools are being developed by the NSTX team. In the context of the fusion energy development path being formulated in the US, an ST-based Component Test Facility (CTF) and, ultimately a high beta Demo device based on the ST, are being considered. For these, it is essential to develop high performance (high beta and high confinement), steady-state (non-inductively driven) ST operational scenarios and an efficient solenoid-free start-up concept. We will also briefly describe the Next-Step-ST (NSST) device being designed to address these issues in fusion-relevant plasma conditions.

D. A. Humphreys | D. A. Gates | Michael Finkenthal | S. S. Medley | M. Ono | S. G. Lee | M. M. Menon | Osamu Mitarai | C. Neumeyer | S. M. Kaye | P. T. Bonoli | R. I. Pinsker | J. Robinson | P. Sichta | R. Marsala | M. G. Bell | J. E. Menard | C. H. Skinner | R. Kaita | G. Rewoldt | H. Schneider | David A. Rasmussen | Glen A. Wurden | G. Oliaro | G. Gettelfinger | T. S. Bigelow | C. Jun | C. Bourdelle | R. Hatcher | David W. Swain | Rajesh Maingi | W. Davis | Peter Beiersdorfer | G. Labik | Wonho Choe | William R. Wampler | Thomas R. Jarboe | J. Manickam | Yuichi Takase | I. Zatz | S. A. Sabbagh | Guoyong Fu | John B Wilgen | E. Fredd | Brian A. Nelson | R. W. Harvey | A. H. Glasser | David R. Smith | J. M. Bialek | J. Chrzanowski | R. Woolley | R. J. Hawryluk | P. Heitzenroeder | T. Gibney | C. E. Kessel | Mark Dwain Carter | E. Mazzucato | F. M. Levinton | J. C. Hosea | S. Bernabei | K. W. Hill | E. J. Synakowski | M. Nagata | W. R. Blanchard | A. L. Roquemore | M. Kalish | E. Ruskov | L. R. Grisham | Roger Raman | John R. Ferron | Cynthia Kieras Phillips | B. C. Stratton | Kevin Lee Tritz | Yueng Kay Martin Peng | N. C. Luhmann | K. Shinohara | Daren P. Stotler | R. Parsells | A. von Halle | Richard Ellis | Robert J. Goldston | Anthony Field | R. E. Bell | M. Bitter | Theodore Mathias Biewer | J. Boedo | Charles E. Bush | Douglass S. Darrow | L. Dudek | R. Feder | J. Foley | Eric Fredrickson | W. Heidbrink | Dale W. Johnson | S. Kubota | H. W. Kugel | B. P. LeBlanc | K. C. Lee | John L. Lowrance | R. J. Maqueda | D. Mastravito | Dennis Mueller | Tobin Leo Munsat | Nobuhiro Nishino | H. K. Park | Stephen F. Paul | T. Peebles | E. Perry | S. Ramakrishnan | P. Roney | P. M. Ryan | A. C. Sontag | Vlad Soukhanovskii | T. Stevenson | Dan Stutman | Glenn Taylor | M. Williams | J. R. Wilson | W. Zhu | S. J. Zweben | R. J. Akers | Choong-Seock Chang | S. J. Diem | C. Domier | Philip C. Efthimion | Nikolai Gorelenkov | L. Guazzotto | Wayne A Houlberg | Jayhyun Kim | S. Krasheninnikov | L. L. Lao | S. G. Lee | J. Lawson | T. K. Mau | D. Pacella | A. Pigarov | Gary D. Porter | Abhay K. Ram | Martha H. Redi | J. Schmidt | I. Semenov | Ker-Chung Shaing | Michael J. Schaffer | X. Tang | J. R. Timberlake | M. R. Wade | Z. Wang | X. Q. Xu | J. Manickam | C. Kessel | T. Mau | K. Tritz | D. Stutman | R. Bell | B. Leblanc | C. Bourdelle | L. Lao | W. Houlberg | E. Synakowski | M. Wade | J. Ferron | D. Swain | P. Bonoli | O. Mitarai | G. Fu | J. Wilgen | A. Ram | Y. Takase | K. Shaing | R. Harvey | G. Rewoldt | D. Pacella | E. Mazzucato | G. Porter | M. Carter | D. Gates | J. Timberlake | M. Finkenthal | C. Domier | N. Luhmann | J. Bialek | W. Wampler | X. Xu | M. Menon | V. Soukhanovskii | H. Kugel | R. Kaita | A. Roquemore | W. Choe | A. Glasser | S. Zweben | R. Goldston | Xianzhu Tang | E. Fredrickson | R. Hatcher | M. Redi | J. Schmidt | S. Sabbagh | M. Bell | F. Levinton | J. Menard | A. Sontag | M. Schaffer | W. Heidbrink | B. Nelson | D. Darrow | P. Efthimion | T. Bigelow | M. Bitter | W. Blanchard | J. Boedo | C. Bush | L. Grisham | J. Hosea | S. Kubota | R. Maingi | R. Maqueda | S. Medley | C. Neumeyer | M. Ono | Y. Peng | C. Phillips | S. Ramakrishnan | R. Raman | C. Skinner | T. Stevenson | A. Halle | M. Williams | R. Akers | P. Beiersdorfer | J. Chrzanowski | W. Davis | L. Dudek | J. Foley | E. Fredd | T. Gibney | R. Hawryluk | K. Hill | T. Jarboe | M. Kalish | R. Marsala | D. Mastravito | M. Nagata | N. Nishino | G. Oliaro | R. Parsells | T. Peebles | R. Pinsker | J. Robinson | P. Roney | P. Sichta | D. Stotler | G. Wurden | W. Zhu | S. Krasheninnikov | T. Biewer | D. Rasmussen | A. Pigarov | J. Lowrance | S. Kaye | T. Munsat | E. Ruskov | K. Shinohara | L. Guazzotto | I. Semenov | R. Woolley | R. Feder | D. Smith | David W. Johnson | S. Bernabei | Jayhyun Kim | D. Mueller | P. Ryan | P. Heitzenroeder | C. Jun | I. Zatz | G. Gettelfinger | S. Diem | G. Taylor | B. Stratton | R. Ellis | Z. Wang | A. Field | H. Schneider | J. Lawson | E. Perry | S. Paul | J. Wilson | H. Park | C. Chang | D. Humphreys | N. Gorelenkov | G. Labik | Y. Peng | C. Chang | B. LeBlanc | W. Zhu

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