Enormous Toroidal Plasma Device

The Enormous Toroidal Plasma Device (ETPD) is an experimental physics device housed at the Basic Plasma Science Facility at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It previously operated as the Electric Tokamak (ET) between 1999 and 2006 and was noted for being the world's largest tokamak[1] before being decommissioned due to the lack of support and funding.[2] The machine was renamed to ETPD in 2009. At present, the machine is undergoing upgrades to be re-purposed into a general laboratory for experimental plasma physics research.

As the Electric Tokamak
Electric TokamakThe Electric Tokamak.jpg
A top view of the Electric Tokamak.
Device Type Tokamak
Location Los Angeles, California, US
Affiliation UCLA
Technical specifications
Major Radius 5 m (16 ft)
Minor Radius 1 m (3 ft 3 in)
Plasma volume 188 m3
Magnetic field 0.25 T (2,500 G)
Heating power 2 MW
Plasma current 30–45 kA
History
Year(s) of operation 1999 – 2006

The Electric Tokamak (ET) was the last of a series of small tokamak machines built in 1998 under the direction of principal investigator and designer, Robert Taylor, a UCLA professor. The machine was designed to be a low field (0.25 T) magnetic confinement fusion device with a large aspect ratio. It is composed of 16 vacuum chambers made of 1-inch thick steel, with a major radius of 5 meters and a minor radius of 1 meter. The ET was the largest tokamak ever built at its time, with a vacuum vessel slightly bigger than that of the Joint European Torus.

The first plasma was achieved in January 1999. The ET is capable of producing a plasma current of 45 kiloamperes and can produce a core electron plasma temperature of 300 eV.[3][4]

Four sets of independent coils are necessary for OH (ohmic heating) current drive, vertical equilibrium field, plasma elongation and plasma shaping (D or reverse-D). The OH system provides 10 V·s using a 10 kA power supply. Up to 0.1 T of vertical field can be applied for horizontal control and this is more than sufficient for all plasma configurations, including high beta. An additional set of coils provide a small horizontal field to correct for error field and to stabilize the plasma vertically. All the coils are located outside the vessel and are constructed out of aluminium.

A Rogowski probe outside the vessel and sets of Hall probes inside the vessel are used to monitor plasma current, position and shaping and are used in the control feedback loop. The poloidal system was designed using an in-house equilibrium code as well as a variety of other codes in order to cross-check computations and to assess the stability of the resulting plasma.

Like most tokamaks, the machine uses a combination of RF heating and neutral beam injection to drive and shape the plasma.
Decommission in 2006

In 2006, the ET had run out of funding and was decommissioned following the retirement of Taylor. Factors leading to loss of funding are attributed to the lack of extensive plasma diagnostics, its large size, and its place in the politics of fusion. When it was operating, the ET was funded mostly by the Department of Energy (DOE).[2]
As the Enormous Toroidal Plasma Device

In 2009, the Electric Tokamak (ET) was renamed to the Enormous Toroidal Plasma Device (ETPD) and was re-purposed for basic plasma research. A lanthanium hexaboride (LaB6) plasma source was developed for the ETPD[5] (similar to the one used in the Large Plasma Device), and is capable of producing a long column of magnetized plasma (~100 m) that winds itself multiple times along the toroidal axis of the machine. The plasma column was shown to be current-free and terminates on the neutral gas within the chamber without touching the machine walls.[6]

The typical operational parameters of the ETPD[7] are:

Density: n ≤ 3 × 1013 cm−3
Electron Temperature: 5 eV < Te < 30 eV
Ion Temperature 1 eV < Ti < 16 eV
Background field: B = 250 gauss (25 mT)
Plasma beta: β ~ 1

The ETPD is currently in the process of being upgraded (i.e. larger sources,[8] better diagnostic capabilities) to support a wide range of plasma physics experiments.
See also

Large Plasma Device, a linear plasma device housed in the same facility as the ETPD

References

"2002-03_Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-03-31.
"UCLA Tokamak Program Close out Report". 2014.
Initial Plasmas in the Electric Tokamak.
Taylor, R. J.; Gauvreau, J.-L.; Gilmore, M.; Gourdain, P.-A.; LaFonteese, D. J.; Schmitz, L. W. (2002). "Initial plasma results from the Electric Tokamak". Nuclear Fusion. 42 (1): 46. Bibcode:2002NucFu..42...46T. doi:10.1088/0029-5515/42/1/307. ISSN 0029-5515.
Cooper, C. M.; Gekelman, W.; Pribyl, P.; Lucky, Z. (16 Aug 2010). "A new large area lanthanum hexaboride plasma source". Review of Scientific Instruments. 81 (8): 083503–083503–8. Bibcode:2010RScI...81h3503C. doi:10.1063/1.3471917. ISSN 0034-6748. PMID 20815604.
Cooper, C. M.; Gekelman, W. (24 Jun 2013). "Termination of a Magnetized Plasma on a Neutral Gas: The End of the Plasma". Physical Review Letters. 110 (26): 265001. Bibcode:2013PhRvL.110z5001C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.265001. PMID 23848883.
DeRose, K. L.; Cooper, C.; Pribyl, P.; Gekelman, W. (2008). "Measurement of the Plasma Beta in the Enormous Toroidal Plasma Device (ETPD)" (PDF). Retrieved 26 Jul 2008.

Carter, T. A.; Dorfman, S.; Vincena, S.; Gekelman, W.; Klein, K.; Howes, G. G. "High beta, hot ion, magnetized laboratory plasmas in LAPD and ETPD: prospects for studying processes relevant to space and astrophysical plasmas". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.709.6176.

External links

"Installation and Initial Testing of the Electric Tokamak Folded Waveguide" with photos.
UCLA Electric Tokamak Homepage
UCLA Tokamak Research

vte

University of California, Los Angeles

vte

Fusion power, processes and devices
Core topics

Nuclear fusion
Timeline List of experiments Nuclear power Nuclear reactor Atomic nucleus Fusion energy gain factor Lawson criterion Magnetohydrodynamics Neutron Plasma

Processes,
methods
Confinement
type
Gravitational

Alpha process Triple-alpha process CNO cycle Fusor Helium flash Nova
remnants Proton-proton chain Carbon-burning Lithium burning Neon-burning Oxygen-burning Silicon-burning R-process S-process

Magnetic

Dense plasma focus Field-reversed configuration Levitated dipole Magnetic mirror
Bumpy torus Reversed field pinch Spheromak Stellarator Tokamak
Spherical Z-pinch

Inertial

Bubble (acoustic) Laser-driven Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion

Electrostatic

Fusor Polywell

Other forms

Colliding beam Magnetized target Migma Muon-catalyzed Pyroelectric

Devices, experiments
Magnetic confinement
Tokamak

International

ITER DEMO PROTO

Americas

Canada STOR-M United States Alcator C-Mod ARC
SPARC DIII-D Electric Tokamak LTX NSTX
PLT TFTR Pegasus Brazil ETE Mexico Novillo [es]

Asia,
Oceania

China CFETR EAST
HT-7 SUNIST India ADITYA SST-1 Japan JT-60 QUEST [ja] Pakistan GLAST South Korea KSTAR

Europe

European Union JET Czech Republic COMPASS GOLEM [cs] France TFR WEST Germany ASDEX Upgrade TEXTOR Italy FTU IGNITOR Portugal ISTTOK Russia T-15 Switzerland TCV United Kingdom MAST-U START STEP