Physical Design and Performance Prediction of the STOR-U Spherical Tokamak

Abstract

STOR-U (R₀ = 55 cm, A = 1.7, I_p = 2 MA) is a spherical tokamak recently proposed to study high beta plasma physics and engineering. In this paper, physical design and performance prediction of the STOR-U are presented. Various equilibria have been obtained to meet different discharge requirements. Eigenvalue expansion technique was employed to optimize the poloidal field system for current start-up with careful consideration given to eddy current effects in the vacuum chamber. Performance prediction is made using ASTRA code. Simulation results reveal that ion temperature increases significantly in NBI heated discharge. Different NBI configurations are also studied.