Engineering Assessment of a National High-power Advanced Torus Experiment (NHTX)

A major challenge facing fusion development is the high heat flux power handling of plasma exhaust, for which a defining parameter is P/R, the ratio of exhaust power P to the radius R at which the divertor is located. Preliminary studies indicate that a compact, cost effective device can be constructed at PPPL exploiting existing infrastructure which could operate at P/R ~50, well in excess of levels available elsewhere and including future ITER operations. The mission for a National High-power Advanced Torus Experiment (NHTX) would be to study the integration of a high P/R plasma-boundary interface with high-confinement, high-beta, non-inductive plasma operation.