Magnetic Fusion Energy

12.2. Key scientific achievements of 15 years of MAST research

Together with NSTX (see Chapter 11), MAST has moved the ST research into the domain of hot and dense plasmas. Core temperatures of T_i ≈ 3 keV and T_e ≈ 2 keV have been achieved simultaneously in L-mode plasmas with core densities n_e ≈ 3 × 10¹⁹ m⁻³ at I_p = 1.2 MA even with moderate heating power [26]. This enabled strong contributions to the three main pillars of research on MAST: ITER and DEMO physics, future ST concepts and basic science.

12.2.1. Plasma confinement

Optimising plasma confinement at a given plasma current and toroidal field is the prime goal for any magnetic confinement fusion device, and the plasma confinement on MAST is very similar to the confinement observed in conventional ...