The prospects for magnetohydrodynamic stability in advanced tokamak regimes*

Stability analysis of advanced regime tokamaks is presented. Here advanced regimes are defined to include configurations where the ratio of the bootstrap current, IBS, to the total plasma current, Ip, approaches unity, and the normalized stored energy, βN* = 80π〈p2〉1/2a/IpB0, has a value greater than 4.5. Here, p is the plasma pressure, a the minor radius in meters, Ip is in mega-amps, B0 is the magnetic field in Tesla, and 〈⋅〉 represents a volume average. Specific scenarios are discussed in the context of Toroidal Physics Experiment (TPX) [Proceedings of the 20th European Physical Society Conference on Controlled Fusion and Plasma Physics, Lisbon, 1993, edited by J. A. Costa Cabral, M. E. Manso, F. M. Serra, and F. C. Schuller (European Physical Society, Petit-Lancy, 1993), p. I-80]. The best scenario is one with reversed shear, in the q profile, in the central region of the tokamak. The bootstrap current obtained from the plasma profiles provides 90% of the required current, and is well aligned with the optimal current profile for ideal magnetohydrodynamic stability. This configuration is stable up to βN*≊ 6.8, if the external boundary conditions are relaxed to those corresponding to an ideal structure at a moderate distance of approximately 1.3 times the minor radius.