Not one more US tokamak

Abstract

The tokamak has been the primary magnetic fusion confinement platform in the USA since the Model C Stellarator was converted to the Symmetric Tokamak in 1970. The tokamak concept holds records for the best fusion performance parameters of any MFE concept, to-date. Presently, the only mid-scale operating US DOE magnetic fusion confinement facility, is the DIII-D tokamak at General Atomics in San Diego (at least until NSTX-U repairs are completed). But it has been more than thirty years since DIII-D was first put into operation. There is not a single new next-generation DOE-funded mid-scale (or larger) magnetic fusion confinement facility planned in the USA for the next 10 years. When and if there is a next generation new US domestic confinement machine funded by DOE, it should not be a tokamak.

Related Papers

• → Confinement and stability on the TJ-II stellarator(2002)90 cited
• → Assessment of Global Stellarator Confinement: Status of the International Stellarator Confinement Database(2007)19 cited
• → Small to mid-sized stellarator experiments: topology, confinement and turbulence(2004)9 cited
• → Wendelstein 7‐X: An Alternative Route to a Fusion Reactor(2009)5 cited
• → Plasma confinement in stellarator systems(1981)1 cited