Engineering design and control scenario for steady-state high-beta operation in National Centralized Tokamak

Abstract The mission of the National Centralized Tokamak (NCT) is to establish high-beta steady-state plasma operation for DEMO and to contribute to ITER. Plasma performance with high-beta conditions is discussed. It is found that near break-even class plasma ( Q DT eq ≥ 0.7 ) with high beta ( β N  ≥ 3.5) is achievable with 25 MW of NB power at I P  = 4.0 MA and an aspect ratio of 2.6. High beta with steady-state full current drive is possible with 13 MW of NB power at I P  = 1.5–1.7 MA. In the engineering design activity of NCT, the strength of the support structure and strength of material for the conductor is confirmed for the superconducting coils, and the successful progress of R&D of boron-loaded resin for neutron shielding is discussed.