DEUTERIUM-TRITIUM HIGH CONFINEMENT (H-MODE) STUDIES IN THE TOKAMAK FUSION TEST REACTOR

High or enhanced confinement (H-mode) plasmas have been obtained for the first time with nearly equal concentrations of deuterium and tritium in high-temperature, high poloidal beta plasmas in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [McGuire, Phys. Plasmas 2, 2176 (1995)]. Tritium fueling was provided mainly through high-power neutral beam injection (NBI) with powers up to 31 MW and beam energies of 90-110 keV. A transition to a circular limiter H-mode configuration has been obtained, following a programmed rapid decrease of the plasma current. Isotope effects, due to the presence of tritium, led to different behavior for deuterium-deuterium (DD) and deuterium-tritium (DT) H-modes relative to confinement, edge localized magnetohydrodynamic modes (ELMs), and ELM effects on fusion products. However, the threshold power for the H-mode transition was the same in DD and DT. Some of the highest values of the global energy confinement time, τE, have been achieved on TFTR during the ELM-free phase of DT H-mode plasmas. Enhancements of τE greater than four times the L-mode have been attained. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.