Tokamak Start-Up with Electron-Cyclotron Heating
D. J. Holly, S. C. Prager, D. A. Shepard, and J.
C. Sprott
University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Wisconsin 53706, United States of America
(Manuscript received 16 March 1981; Final manuscript received 8
September
1981)
ABSTRACT
Experiments are described in which the start-up voltage in a tokamak is
reduced by about a factor of two by the use of a modest amount of
electron
cyclotron resonance heating power for pre-ionization. The solution of
the
zero-dimensional start-up equations indicates that the effect is due to
the high initial density which increases the rate at which the
conductivity
increases in the neutral-dominated initial plasma. The effect
extrapolates
favourably to larger tokamaks. A 50% reduction in the start-up
volt-second
requirement and impurity reflux is also observed.
Ref: D. J. Holly, S. C. Prager, D. A. Shepard, and J.
C. Sprott, Nuclear Fusion 21, 1483-1487 (1981)
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