The China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) is the next device in the roadmap for the realization of fusion energy in China, which aims to bridge the gaps between the fusion experimental reactor ITER and the demonstration reactor (DEMO). CFETR will be operated in two phases. Steady-state operation and self-sufficiency will be the two key issues for Phase I with a modest fusion power of up to 200 MW. Phase II aims for DEMO validation with a fusion power over 1 GW. Advanced H-mode physics, high magnetic fields up to 7 T, high frequency electron cyclotron resonance heating and lower hybrid current drive together with off-axis negative-ion neutral beam injection will be developed for achieving steady-state advanced operation. The recent detailed design, research and development (R&D) activities including integrated modeling of operation scenarios, high field magnet, material, tritium plant, remote handling and future plans are introduced in this paper.

The impact of plasma shaping on electron heat transport is investigated in TCV L-mode plasmas. The study is motivated by the observation of an increase in the energy confinement time with decreasing plasma triangularity which may not be explained by a change in the temperature gradient induced by changes in the geometry of the flux surfaces. The plasma triangularity is varied over a wide range, from positive to negative values, and various plasmas conditions are explored by changing the total electron cyclotron (EC) heating power and the plasma density. The mid-radius electron heat diffusivity is shown to significantly decrease with decreasing triangularity and, for similar plasma conditions, only half of the EC power is required at a triangularity of −0.4 compared with +0.4 to obtain the same temperature profile. Besides, the observed dependence of the electron heat diffusivity on the electron temperature, electron density and effective charge can be grouped in a unique dependence on the plasma effective collisionality. In summary, the electron heat transport level exhibits a continuous decrease with decreasing triangularity and increasing collisionality. Local gyro-fluid and global gyro-kinetic simulations predict that trapped electron modes are the most unstable modes in these EC heated plasmas with an effective collisionality ranging from 0.2 to 1. The modes stability dependence on the plasma triangularity is investigated.

The Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor (CFETR), complementing the ITER facility, is aiming to demonstrate fusion energy production up to 200 MW initially and to eventually reach DEMO relevant power level 1 GW, to manifest a high duty factor of 0.3–0.5, and to pursue tritium self-sufficiency with tritium breeding ratio (TBR)  >1. The key challenge to meet the missions of the CFETR is to run the machine in steady state (or long pulse) and high duty factor. By using a multi-dimensional code suite with physics-based models, self-consistent steady-state and hybrid mode scenarios for CFETR have been developed under a high magnetic field up to 6.5 T. The negative-ion neutral beam injection together with high frequency electron cyclotron wave and lower hybrid wave (and/or fast wave) are proposed to be used to drive the current. Subsequently the engineering design of CFETR including the magnet system, vacuum system, tritium breeding blanket, divertor, remote handling and maintenance system will be introduced. Some research and development (R&D) activities are also introduced in this paper.

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at Austin in USA, was dismantled and shipped to China in 2004, and renamed as the Joint TEXT (J-TEXT) tokamak. The reconstruction work, which included reassembly of the machine and development of peripheral devices, was completed in spring of 2007. Consequently, the first plasma was obtained at the end of 2007. At present, a typical J-TEXT Ohmic discharge can produce a plasma with flattop current up to 220kA and lasting for 300ms, line averaged density above 2×10 19 m-3 , and an electron temperature about 800eV, with a toroidal magnetic field of 2.2T. A number of diagnostic devices used to facilitate the routine operation and experimental scenarios were developed on the J-TEXT tokamak. Hence, the measurements of the electrostatic fluctuations in the edge region and conditional analysis of the intermittent burst events near the last closed flux surface (LCFS) were undertaken. The observation and simple analysis of MHD activity and disruption events were also performed. The preliminary experimental results and the future research plan for the J-TEXT are described in detail.

In the J-TEXT tokamak, the penetration of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) has been studied by using a set of in-vessel RMP coils. It is found that, once the RMP amplitude exceeds a critical value, the applied RMP can lead to field penetration and excitation of a large locked mode in the tearing-stable plasma. The sawtooth oscillations disappear and the confinement deteriorates significantly accompanied by tearing mode excitation. For the plasma with an initial high frequency tearing mode, the RMP can suppress the tearing mode, and field penetration followed with a further increased RMP. The relationship between the RMP penetration threshold and the electron density has been investigated for tearing-stable plasmas. It is found that the penetration threshold increases with the density and scales proportionally to in the ranges of (0.7–2.7) × 1019 m−3. Using the experimental parameters as input, the numerical modelling based on two-fluid equations gives the scaling of , which approximately agrees with the experimental density scaling.

Abstract. Numerical understandings of the effect of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) on 2/1 tearing mode (TM) dynamics observed on J-TEXT tokamak (Hu Q. et al 2012 Nucl. Fusion 52 083011) are presented in this paper. The non-uniform mode rotation frequency, modulated by electromagnetic force (F em ) and viscous force (F vs ), results in the applied RMPs contributing both net stabilizing and braking effect on TM. Numerical evaluation based on analytical theory shows the applied RMP contributes a dominant stabilizing effect, which are responsible for the suppression of TM. The dynamics of the first discovered small locked island (SLI) are investigated. It is found that the island is locked at the stabilizing phase and the saturated island width is less than the linear layer width. The simulated Mirnov signal indicates the small locked island is likely to be the complete suppression case observed in experiments. Associated with the application of RMP, the shape of Mirnov signal deviates from sinusoidal before mode locking, which is explained by numerical modeling. The comparisons between the numerical and experimental results are in good agreement phenomenally.

Abstract:The first comprehensive measurements of plasma flows and fluctuations nearby static magnetic islands driven by resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) are presented.These experiments were performed using multiple Langmuir probe arrays in the edge plasmas of the J-TEXT tokamak. The effects of controlled variations of the island size and location are explored. This study aims to understand the interaction between turbulence and magnetic islands, and to elucidate magnetic island effects on edge turbulence and flow intensity profiles, edge electric fields, and thus confinement regime transitions. Turbulence and low frequency flows (LFFs) all drop inside the magnetic island, but increase at its boundary, as island width increases. The geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is damped in most of the edge area with magnetic islands. The sign of the radial electric field changes from negative to positive within 2 the islands. The gradient of turbulent stresses vanishes at island center, and becomes steeper at the boundary of the islands. The particle transport induced by the turbulence is reduced inside the magnetic islands. The magnetic island effects on flows and turbulence can lead to an increase in LFFs and enhance Reynolds stresses near the last closed flux surface (LCFS). A stronger radial electric field layer can be formed near the LCFS when magnetic islands are present. The results suggest that magnetic islands can be used as a tool to enhance edge turbulence and flows, edge electric fields, and thus to trigger confinement regime transitions.