Overview of steady-state operation on the Tore-Supra tokamak

The Tore-Supra program is oriented towards the control of multi-megawatt plasmas for very long durations. During its first years of operation, both lower hybrid (LH) waves and ion cyclotron (ICRH) heating have been used, leading to a world record in injected energy of 280 MJ. In these conditions, plasma–wall interactions becomes a critical issue, as the injected power has to be removed continuously, and recycling fluxes must be controlled to maintain the density at its desired value and avoid plasma contamination. On the basis of these results, an enhancement in the capability to handle large input powers on a steady-state basis and to control the particles over long duration has been implemented during the 2000–2001 shut-down. In 2002, experiments will resume with the ultimate goal of operating with steady-state advanced scenarios based on purely non-inductive current drive at moderate density, with both LH current drive and ICRH heating, during hundreds of seconds, leading up to 1 GJ of injected energy.