In LHD discharges, the NBI heated plasmas are terminated intwo ways: (a) thermal decay (TD) after the termination of NBI and(b) radiative collapse (RC) during the NBI heating. The basiccharacteristics of the TD and RC discharges are compared. It is foundthat the decay and collapse of the plasma are mainly governed by theheating power and the plasma density. The critical density cfor the collapse of RC plasmas is similar to the scaling laws obtainedin other helical devices, i.e. c∝(PB/V)0.5, whereP, B and V denote heating power, magnetic field and plasma volume,respectively. Moreover, measurements using multichannel bolometricdiagnostics indicate that the total radiation profiles in TD and RCplasmas are usually inboard-outboard symmetric and asymmetric,respectively, at the end of the discharge. In RC discharges, the totalradiation profile develops in several phases. Before the onset of thethermal instability (TI), the radiation profile is rather symmetric,while after that, the radiation profile evolves from being symmetric inthe initial period towards being asymmetric eventually with highradiation on the inboard side. Corresponding variations are shown in thetime evolutions of the density and temperature profiles, and asubstantial contraction of the plasma column is observed immediatelyafter TI onset. The spatial and temporal coincidence of the asymmetriesin the radiation, density and temperature is similar to that observedwith multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge (MARFE) intokamaks. But, unlike MARFEs, the asymmetric radiation (AR) in LHD israther transient since it appears just before the end of RC discharges.The underlying cause for the development of radiation asymmetry wasinvestigated and compared with existing instability models. The resultsuggests that the high inboard radiation is a manifestation of anenhanced local thermal instability, and the AR results from asymmetricdevelopments of TI on the inboard-outboard sides during the final stageof RC discharges.