Speaker
Dr
Ivan Vargas-Blanco
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Description
The low aspect ratio spherical tokamak (ST) MEDUSA (Madison EDUcation Small Aspect.ratio tokamak) is currently being re-commissioned in Costa Rica and was donation to Costa Rica Institute of Tecnology by University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. The major characteristics of this device are [1]: plasma major radius R_o < 0.14m, plasma minor radius a < 0.10m, plasma vertical elongation 1.2, toroidal field at the geometric center of the vessel B_T < 0.5T, plasma current I_p < 40kA, n_e(0) < 2x10^20m^-3, central electron temperature T_e(0) < 140eV, discharge duration is < 3ms, top and bottom rail limiters, natural divertor D-shaped ohmic plasmas). In addition to training, the major objective of renamed device MEDUSA-CR is to address relevant physics for spherical and conventional tokamaks, taking advantage of the insulating vessel which allows plasma real time response to applied external electrical or magnetic fields.
The major topics for the scientific programme are 1) Comparative studies of equilibrium and stability between natural divertor D and bean-shaped ST plasmas [2]; 2) Study of an ergodic magnetic limiter [2,3,4]; 3) Alfvén wave heating and current drive and; 4) Transport. Advances in some of these topics will be presented in this work, in addition to the technical tasks of machine re-commissioning involving the re-design of energy, gas injection, vacuum system and control systems.
References
[1] G. D. Garstka, PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin at Madison, September 1997. [2] C. Ribeiro et al., Proc. 25th Symposium on Fus. Eng., San Francisco, US, June 2013. [3] C. Ribeiro et al., Proc. 39th EPS Conf. Contr. Fusion and Plasma Phys., vol. 36F, P1.091, Stockholm, Sweden, July 2012. [4] J. J. E. Herrera-Velázquez, E. C. Alarcon, and C. Ribeiro, 24 th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, TH-p2-28, San Diego, US, 8-12 October 2012.
| Country or International Organization | Costa Rica |
|---|---|
| Paper Number | EX/P4-47 |
Primary author
Dr
Ivan Vargas-Blanco
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Co-authors
Mr
Alejandro Canizales
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Mr
Ana Marcela Rojas-Loaiza
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Mr
Edgardo Acuña-Arias
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Prof.
Jaime Mora
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Mr
Jose Rojas-Calderón
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Mr
José Martí Arias-Brenes
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Mr
Juan Ignacio Monge-Colepicolo
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Prof.
Luis Alonso Araya-Solano
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
Mr
Néstor Piedra-Quesada
(Costa Rica Institute of Technology)
