Chapter 9: Opportunities for reactor scale experimental physics

A reactor scale tokamak plasma will exhibit three areas of physics phenomenology not accessible by contemporary experimental facilities. These are: (1) instabilities generated by energetic alpha particles; (2) self-heating phenomena; and (3) reactor scale physics, which includes integration of diverse physics phenomena, each with its own scaling properties. In each area, selected examples are presented that demonstrate the importance and uniqueness of physics results from reactor scale facilities for both inductive and steady state reactor options. It is concluded that the physics learned in such investigations will be original physics not attainable with contemporary facilities. In principle, a reactor scale facility could have a good measure of flexibility to optimize the tokamak approach to magnetic fusion energy.