A toroidal liquid lithium limiter for CDX-U

R. Majeski*, G. Antar, M. Boaz, D. Buchenauer, L. Cadwallader, R. Causey, R. W. Conn, R. Doerner, P. Efthimion, M. Finkenthal, D. Hoffman, B. Jones, R. Kaita, H. Kugel, S. Luckhardt, R. Maingi, M. Maiorano, T. Munsat, S. Raftopoulos, T. RognleinJ. Spaleta, V. Soukhanovskii, D. Stutman, G. Taylor, J. Timberlake, M. Ulrickson, D. Whyte

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Attention has focused recently on flowing liquid lithium as a first wall for a reactor because of its potentially attractive physics and engineering features. In order to test the suitability of liquid lithium as a plasma facing component, the Current Drive eXperiment - Upgrade (CDX-U) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has recently installed a fully toroidal liquid lithium limiter. CDX-U is a compact (R=34cm, a=22 cm, Btoroidal= 2 kG, IP =100 kA, T e (0) ∼ 100 eV, ne(0)∼ 5 x 1019 m-3) short-pulse (<25 msec) spherical torus (ST) with extensive diagnostics. The limiter, which consists of a shallow circular stainless steel tray of radius 34 cm and width 10 cm, is filled with lithium to a depth of a few millimeters, and forms the lower limiting surface for the discharge. Heating elements beneath the tray are used to liquefy the lithium (melting point = 180.5° C) prior to the experiment. The total area of liquid lithium exposed to the plasma is approximately 2000 cm2. The design of the limiter, modifications to CDX-U to accommodate in-vessel inventories of approximately 1 liter of liquid lithium, techniques for loading lithium onto the limiter, and other preparations will be described. CDX-U has previously been successfully operated with a smaller area (300 cm2) liquid lithium rail limiter. Diagnostics specific to lithium operations include multichord spectrometry of the 135 Å LiIII line in the core plasma, monitors for neutral lithium light at the lithium limiter, and a fast (10,000 frame per second) camera which monitors motion of the liquid during the discharge. First results of plasma operations with the toroidal liquid lithium limiter will also be given.

Original languageEnglish
Pages341-344
Number of pages4
StatePublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes
Event19th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering (19th SOFE) - Atlantic City, NJ, United States
Duration: 22 Jan 200225 Jan 2002

Conference

Conference19th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering (19th SOFE)
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAtlantic City, NJ
Period22/01/0225/01/02

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