Reply to "Comments on the paper 'Characteristics of high-density tokamak ignition reactors'"

According to Galvão, the .values chosen for limiter safety factor (qa = 2.5) and poloidal beta (βp = 0.5 R0/ap) in our illustrative examples of compact, high-density, high-field tokamak operation [Nucl. Fusion 1976 16 31] may be too optimistic for plasmas of non-circular cross-section. Galvão's treatment, however, applies only to elliptical plasmas. In fact, MHD-stability analysis shows that plasmas of D-shaped, doublet, and rectangular cross-sections are stable at lower values of q than are available to elliptical plasmas of the same shape factor, S.