The lower hybrid current drive system for steady-state operation of the Vulcan tokamak conceptual design

The steady-state current drive system for the Vulcan tokamak concept has been designed, taking into account requirements of high field, small size, and high operational wall temperature (B0 = 7 T, R0 = 1.2 m, Twall > 800 K). This lower hybrid current drive system allows steady-state operation by utilizing high field side launch, high RF source frequency (8 GHz), and dedicated current drive ports. An iterative MHD and current drive solver is used to determine the ideal launching spectra and location to assure strong single pass absorption. It is found that with nominal Vulcan operational parameters (ne ≈ 4 × 1020 m−3, Te ≈ 2.8 keV, Ip = 1.7 MA, PLHCD = 19.8 MW) bootstrap currents of ∼70% and lower hybrid current drive efficiencies of 1.16 × 1019 A W m−2 could be achieved. The optimized solution yielded advanced tokamak profiles with q values on-axis above 2. A conceptual design of the system is presented, which takes into account space, power, cooling, and launched spectrum requirements. The system is found to be compatible with the vacuum vessel design and requires cooling power of <1 MW per waveguide bundle.

► A high-field side launch lower hybrid current drive system has been designed.
► Strong single-pass absorption is maintained for near reactor-like plasma densities.
► Detailed modeling was performed to test the LHCD design, and the advantages of high-field side launch and strong single pass absorption were confirmed numerically and analytically.
► Engineering analysis was performed to check feasibility of the system in the Vulcan tokamak.