Micro-instability Based Models for Confinement Properties and Ignition Criteria in Tokamaks

This paper reports on results of theoretical studies dealing with: (1) the use of microinstability-based thermal transport models to interpret the anomalous confinement properties observed in key tokamak experiments such as TFTR and (2) the likely consequences of the presence of such instabilities for future ignition devices. Transport code simulations using profile-consistent forms of anomalous thermal diffusivities due to drift-type instabilities have yielded good agreement with the confinement times and temperatures observed in TFTR under a large variety of operating conditions including pellet-fuelling in both ohmic- and neutral-beam-heated discharges. With regard to achieving an optimal ignition margin, the adverse temperature scaling of anomalous losses caused by drift modes leads to the conclusion that it is best to operate at the maximum allowable density while holding the temperature close to the minimum value required for ignition