JT-60U Achieved Optimized Negative Magnetic Shear Discharges with QDT > 1
Progress has been made in optimization of negative magnetic shear discharges in higher plasma current and higher heating power region in JT-60U and a high fusion performance satisfying the break-even plasma condition was achieved on October 31, 1996.
The equivalent energy multiplication factor QDT reached 1.05 with energy confinement time of 0.97 seconds, ion temperature of 16.5 keV, and electron density of 9.7*1019 m-3.
This achievement demonstrates the feasibility of bootstrap-current-driven steady-state tokamak fusion reactors whose primary operational scheme is the negative magnetic shear discharge. It is also investigated as an operational mode of ITER.
