National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) and planned research in fusion plasma science

Summary form only given. The NSTX facility located at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is presently being built jointly by PPPL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Univ. of Washington, and Columbia University. It is a megampere-level spherical torus (ST) experiment designed for a nominal plasma major radius of 85 cm, a minimum aspect ratio of 1.25, elongation above 2 and a toroidal field of 0.3 T for a duration of 5 s. For a plasma current of 1 MA, elongation of 2.2, and triangularity near 0.3, the MHD safety factor, q, will be around 10. It will utilize available equipment and facility such as the Hot Cell next to the TFTR Test Cell, the power supplies and services, diagnostic systems, ICRF systems (up to 6 MW delivered) and, in the future, a powerful TFTR NBI system (up to 5 MW for 5 s at 80 keV in full energy). The first plasma is scheduled for April 1999. Experiments will commence in May 1999. The mission of NSTX is to investigate the scientific principles of the spherical torus for an attractive volume neutron source and future pilot and power plants.