Disruption PAM

Leader: Steve Sabbagh
Deputy: Roger Raman

Goal: Improve understanding of prediction, avoidance, and mitigation of disruptions in tokamaks, achieve acceptable levels of disruption frequency and severity

Scope:

Location: Initiate and base the study at NSTX-U, expand to a national program and international collaboration (multi-tokamak data)

Timescale: Multi-year effort, planning/executing experiments of various approaches (leveraging the 5 NSTX-U Year Plan) to reduce plasma disruptivity/severity at high performance

Breadth: High-level focus on quantified mission goal, with detailed physics areas expected to expand/evolve within the group, soliciting research input/efforts from new collaborations as needed

Charges (ordered near-term to long-term):

1. How will NSTX-U interface to the upcoming FES workshops, and longer-term, address the FESAC/FES Tier 1 issue of “Transients" generally?

a.In which disruption research areas can NSTX-U make leading contributions?

b.What are the associated long-term resource needs from NSTX-U?

2. What are the leading/highest priority NSTX-U contributions to JRT-16?

a.What are the required resources during FY15-16 to support JRT-16?

3. How can NSTX-U minimize disruptivity rates?

a.What are leading causes of disruptions in NSTX & during initial NSTX-U ops?
b.What prerequisites / tools are needed to prepare NSTX-U to operate a large # of sequential shot-seconds (say 1-5 shot minutes) without a disruption?

Tasks: Organize meetings/reports to address above charges

Due dates:

1a – March/April 2015, 1b May/June 2015 (both COMPLETED)
2a – April 2015 (COMPLETED), 3a – end of CY 2016, 3b – TBD/long-term