Recent results from the SSPX spheromak experiment demonstrate the potential for obtaining good energy confinement (Te> 350eV and radial electron thermal diffusivity comparable to tokamak L-mode values) in a completely self-organized toroidal plasma. A strong decrease in thermal conductivity with temperature is observed and at the highest temperatures, transport is well below that expected from the Rechester-Rosenbluth model. Addition of a new capacitor bank has produced 60% higher magnetic fields and almost tripled the pulse length to 11ms. For plasmas with T{sub e}> 300eV, it becomes feasible to use modest (1.8MW) neutral beam injection (NBI) heating to significantly change the power balance in the core plasma, making it an effective tool for improving transport analysis. We are now developing detailed designs for adding NBI to SSPX and have developed a new module for the CORSICA transport code to compute the correct fast-ion orbits in SSPX so that we can simulate the effect of adding NBI; initial results predict that such heating can raise the electron temperature and total plasma pressure in the core by a factor of two.

In recent DIII-D experiments, we concentrated on extending the operating range and improving the overall performance of quiescent H-mode (QH) plasmas. The QH-mode offers an attractive, high-performance operating mode for burning plasmas due to the absence of pulsed edge-localized-mode-driven losses to the divertor (ELMs). Using counter neutral-beam injection (NBI), we achieve steady plasma conditions with the presence of an edge harmonic oscillation (EHO) replacing the ELMs and providing control of the edge pedestal density. These conditions have been maintained for greater than 4s ({approx}30 energy confinement times, {tau}{sub E}, and 2 current relaxation times, {tau}{sub R} [1]), and often limited only by the duration of auxiliary heating. We discuss results of these recent experiments where we use triangularity ramping to increase the density, neutral beam power ramps to increase the stored energy, injection of rf power at the electron cyclotron (EC) frequency to control density profile peaking in the core, and control of startup conditions to completely eliminate the transient ELMing phase.

Quiescent double barrier (QDB) conditions often form when an internal transport barrier is created with high-power neutral-beam injection into a quiescent H-mode (QH) plasma. These QH-modes offer an attractive, high-performance operating scenario for burning plasma experiments due to their quasi-stationarity and lack of edge localized modes (ELMs). Our initial experiments and modeling using ECH/ECCD in QDB shots were designed to control the current profile and, indeed, we have observed a strong dependence on the q-profile when EC-power is used inside the core transport barrier region. While strong electron heating is observed with EC power injection, we also observe a drop in the other core parameters; ion temperature and rotation, electron density and impurity concentration. These dynamically changing conditions provide a rapid evolution of T{sub e} T{sub i} profiles accessible with 0.3

We continue to explore Quiescent Double Barrier (QDB) operation on DIII-D to address issues of critical importance to internal transport barrier (ITB) plasmas. QDB plasmas exhibit both a core transport barrier and a quiescent, H-mode edge barrier. Both experiments and modeling of these plasmas are leading to an increased understanding of this regime and it's potential advantages for advanced-tokamak (AT) burning-plasma operation. These near steady plasma conditions have been maintained on DIII-D for up to 4s, times greater than 35{tau}{sub E}, and exhibit high performance with {beta}{sub N}> 2.5 and neutron production rates S{sub n} {approx} 1 x 10{sup 16}s{sup -1}. Recent experiments have been directed at exploring both the current profile modification effects of electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) and electron cyclotron (ECH) heating-induced changes in temperature, density and impurity profiles. We use model-based analysis to determine the effects of both heating and current drive on the q-profile in these QDB plasmas. Experiments based on predictive modeling achieved a significant modification to the q-profile evolution [1] resulting from the non-inductive current drive effects due to direct ECCD and changes in the bootstrap and neutral beam current drive components. We observe that the injection of EC power inside the barrier region changes the density peaking from n{sub e}/n{sub e} = 2.1 to 1.5 accompanied by a significant reduction in the core carbon and high-Z impurities, nickel and copper.

The SSPX spheromak experiment has achieved electron temperatures of 350eV and confinement consistent with closed magnetic surfaces. In addition, there is evidence that the experiment may be up against an operational beta limit for Ohmic heating. To test this barrier, there are firm plans to add two 0.9MW Neutral Beam (NB) sources to the experiment. A question is whether the limit is due to instability. Since the deposited Ohmic power in the core is relatively small the additional power from the beams is sufficient to significantly increase the electron temperature. Here we present results of computations that will support this contention. We have developed a new NB module to calculate the orbits of the injected fast fast-ions. The previous computation made heavy use of tokamak ordering which fails for a tight-aspect-ratio device, where B{sub tor} {approx} B{sub pol}. The model calculates the deposition from the NFREYA package [1]. The neutral from the CX deposition is assumed to be ionized in place, a high-density approximation. The fast ions are then assumed to fill a constant angular momentum orbit. And finally, the fast ions immediately assume the form of a dragged down distribution. Transfer rates are then calculated from this distribution function [2]. The differential times are computed from the orbit times and the particle weights in each flux zone (the sampling bin) are proportional to the time spent in the zone. From this information the flux-surface-averaged profiles are obtained and fed into the appropriate transport equation. This procedure is clearly approximate, but accurate enough to help guide experiments. A major advantage is speed: 5000 particles can be processed in under 4s on our fastest LINUX box. This speed adds flexibility by enabling a ''large'' number of predictive studies. Similar approximations, without the accurate orbit calculation presented here, had some success comparing with experiment and TRANSP [3]. Since our procedure does not have multiple CX and relies on disparate time scales, more detailed understanding requires a ''complete'' NB package such as the NUBEAM [4] module, which follows injected fast ions along with their generations until they enter the main thermal distribution.

OAK-B135 The authors have initiated an experimental program to address some of the questions associated with operation of a tokamak with high bootstrap current fraction under high performance conditions, without assistance from a transformer. In these discharges they have maintained stationary (or slowly improving) conditions for> 2.2 s at {beta}{sub N} {approx} {beta}{sub p} {approx} 2.8. Significant current overdrive, with dI/dt> 50 kA/s and zero or negative voltage, is sustained for over 0.7 s. The overdrive condition is usually ended with the appearance of MHD activity, which alters the profiles and reduces the bootstrap current. Characteristically these plasmas have 65%-80% bootstrap current, 25%-30% NBCD, and 5%-10% ECCD. Fully noninductive operation is essential for steady-state tokamaks. For efficient operation, the bootstrap current fraction must be close to 100%, allowing for a small additional ({approx} 10%) external current drive capability to be used for control. In such plasmas the current and pressure profiles are rightly coupled because J(r) is entirely determined by p(r) (or more accurately by the kinetic profiles). The pressure gradient in turn is determined by transport coefficients which depend on the poloidal field profile.