[en] Hydrogeological investigations using hydrochemical and isotopic methods have been performed to determine the sanitary protection areas of springs in the drainage area of the Vransko Polje near Biograd (North Dalmatia) and main springs in the drainage area of the Gacka River (Lika region). Both regions are situated in the karst area of Croatia. Water samples from springs and precipitation samples at both areas were collected monthly in the period 2005-2006. Hydrochemical results follow the variations caused by the main hydrogeological properties of particular aquifer and recharge conditions during different seasonal hydro logic and vegetation conditions. The mean ³H activity in all main springs in the Gacka River area is similar to that of precipitation, while in the springs of Vransko Polje the mean ³H activity is lower if compared with precipitation due to sea water infiltration. There is no seasonal fluctuation of ³H activity in all springs indicating fast circulation and good mixing of precipitation and ground waters. (author)

[en] Hydrogeological investigations using hydrochemical and isotopic methods have been performed to determine the sanitary protection areas of springs in the drainage area of the Vransko Polje near Biograd (North Dalmatia) and main springs in the drainage area of the Gacka River (Lika region). Both regions are situated in the karst area of Croatia. Water samples from springs and precipitation samples at both areas were collected monthly in the period 2005-2006. Hydrochemical results follow the variations caused by the main hydrogeological properties of particular aquifer and recharge conditions during different seasonal hydrologic and vegetation conditions. The mean ³H activity in all main springs in the Gacka River area is similar to that of precipitation, while in the springs of Vransko Polje the mean ³H activity is lower if compared with precipitation due to sea water infiltration. There is no seasonal fluctuation of ³H activity in all springs indicating fast circulation and good mixing of precipitation and ground waters. (author)

[en] Microsecond probe measurements of the electron temperature during the tokamak edge localised mode (ELM) instability show that the peak values significantly exceed those obtained by conventional techniques. The temperatures measured at the plasma facing component (divertor) are around 80% of the initial value (at the pedestal). This challenges the current understanding, where only several percent of the pedestal value are measured at the divertor. Our results imply a negligible energy transfer from the electrons to the ions during the ELM instability, and therefore no associated increase of the ion power loads on the divertor. This observation is supported by the simple analytic free-streaming model, as well as by full kinetic simulations. The energetic ELM ion loads are expected to be one of the main divertor damaging factors; therefore, the obtained results give an optimistic prediction for next generation fusion devices. (paper)

[en] The COMPASS-U tokamak, designed to be a 5 T magnetic field device with a full-metal first wall and operating at plasma-facing component temperatures up to 500°C, will start its operation in 2022 at IPP Prague. This device will address ITER and DEMO relevant plasma exhaust physics, including operation with liquid metal divertor. Inductive magnetic diagnostics based on conductive loops of different geometry and orientation are crucial for magnetic confinement fusion devices. Due to the high temperatures of the vacuum vessel upon which they will be operated, a suitable cable insulation needs to be chosen carefully. Mineral-insulated cables (MIC) have proven to be compatible with high baking temperatures. However, the steel sheath of MIC attenuates the response of the sensor at higher frequencies which could affect real-time plasma control feedback and magnetic equilibrium reconstruction. In this work, characterization and testing of multiple MgO MIC of different diameters was conducted. A variety of electrical property measurements, such as frequency attenuation, resistance and capacitance, for each cable is presented, both at low and high temperatures up to 300°C. Cutoff frequencies from 65 kHz to 335 kHz were identified and attributed to the shielding in a flux loop configuration. Using an external RLC circuit, the frequency response of MIC coils is compared to an electrical model for shielded coils, yielding an useful calibrated model for future probe prototypes with different geometries in the frequency range of interest.

[en] Axisymmetric geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) oscillations of the magnetic field, plasma potential and electron temperature have been identified on the COMPASS tokamak. This work brings an overview of their electromagnetic properties studied by multi-pin reciprocating probes and magnetic diagnostics. The n  =  0 fluctuations form a continuous spectrum in limited plasmas but change to a single dominant peak in diverted configuration. At the edge of diverted plasmas the mode exhibits a non-local structure with a constant frequency over a radial extent of at least several centimeters. Nevertheless, the frequency still reacts on temporal changes of plasma temperature caused by an auxiliary NBI heating as well as those induced by periodic sawtooth crashes. Radial wavelength of the mode is found to be about 1–4 cm, with values larger for the plasma potential than for the electron temperature. The mode propagates radially outward and its radial structure induces oscillations of a poloidal E  ×  B velocity, that can locally reach the level of the mean poloidal flow. Bicoherence analysis confirms a non-linear interaction of GAM with a broadband ambient turbulence. The mode exhibits strong axisymmetric magnetic oscillations that are studied both in the poloidal and radial components of the magnetic field. Their poloidal standing-wave structure was confirmed and described for the first time in diverted plasmas. In limited plasmas their amplitude scales with safety factor. Strong suppression of the magnetic GAM component, and possibly of GAM itself, is observed during co-current but not counter-current NBI. (paper)

[en] This paper presents two scenarios used for generation of a runaway electron (RE) beam in the COMPASS tokamak with a focus on the decay phase and control of the beam. The first scenario consists of massive gas injection of argon into the current ramp-up phase, leading to a disruption accompanied by runaway plateau generation. In the second scenario, injection of a smaller amount of gas is used in order to isolate the RE beam from high-temperature plasma. The performances of current control and radial and vertical position feedback control in the second scenario were experimentally studied and analysed. The role of RE energy in the radial position stability of the RE beam seems to be crucial. A comparison of the decay phase of the RE beam in various amounts of Ar or Ne was studied using absolute extreme ultraviolet (AXUV) tomography and hard x-ray (HXR) intensity measurement. Argon clearly leads to higher HXR fluxes for the same current decay rate than neon, while radiated power based on AXUV measurements is larger for Ne in the same set of discharges. (paper)

[en] Full text: It has long been known that high temperature superconductors (HTS) could have an important role to play in the future of tokamak fusion research. Here we report on first results of the use of HTS in a tokamak magnet and on the progress in design and construction of the first fully-HTS tokamak. In the experiment, the two copper vertical field coils of the small tokamak GOLEM were replaced by two coils each with 6 turns of HTS (Re)BCO tape. Liquid nitrogen was used to cool the coils to below the critical temperature at which HTS becomes superconducting. Little effect on the HTS critical current has been observed for perpendicular field up to 0.5 T and superconductivity has been achieved at ∼ 90.5K during bench tests. There had been concerns that the plasma pulses and pulsed magnetic fields might cause a “quench” in the HTS, i.e., a sudden and potentially damaging transition from superconductor to normal conductor. However, many plasma pulses were fired without any quenches even when disruptions occurred with corresponding induced electrical fields. In addition, experiments without plasma have been performed to study properties of the HTS in a tokamak environment, i.e., critical current and its dependence on magnetic and electrical fields generated in a tokamak both in DC and pulsed operations, maximum current ramp-up speed, performance of the HTS tape after number of artificially induced quenches etc. No quench has been observed at DC currents up to 200 A (1.2 kA-turns through the coil). In short pulses, current up to 1 kA through the tape (6 kA-turns) has been achieved with no subsequent degradation of the HTS performance with a current ramp rate up to 0.6 MA/s. In future experiments, increases in both the plasma current and pulse duration are planned. Considerable experience has been gained during design and fabrication of the cryostat, coils, isolation and insulation, feeds and cryosystems, and GOLEM is now routinely operated with HTS coils. The construction of a small fully-HTS low aspect ratio tokamak has started at the Tokamak Solutions UK premises in the Culham Science Centre. It is planned to operate a small tokamak with A = 2 and circular cross section in steady state with plasma currents of 10 — 20 kA driven by Electron Bernstein Wave current drive. In parallel, the design and manufacture of a high-field (5 T) HTS TF coil for a spherical tokamak is carried out. (author)

[en] Multiple quasicoherent electromagnetic modes with steady-state frequency and different nature and location were observed in the COMPASS tokamak (R = 0.56 m, < a >  = 0.2 m) at B_t = 1.14 T with Co-NBI (P_N_B_I = 0.2–0.5 MW, E_b = 32 keV) at frequencies 5 kHz < f < 250 kHz. Modes were observed in both low and high confinement (L- and H-modes) plasmas. Lower frequency modes with f < 50 kHz were identified as low m tearing and kink MHD modes, while higher frequency modes with 50 kHz < f < 250 kHz were considered as having Alfvénic nature. Unexpectedly, such modes were only observed in the H-mode, both in neutral beam injector-assisted and Ohmic, so the mode driving force is not yet clear. Using the linear MHD code KINX, we initially identified the observed mode with a ballooning structure is as beta induced Alfvén eigenmode (BAE) with m, n < 5, while an antiballooning mode is initially identified as toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) with m, n < 9. (paper)

[en] The resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) has proven to be a useful way to suppress edge-localized modes that under certain conditions can damage the device by the large power fluxes carried from the bulk plasma to the wall. The effect of RMP on the L-mode plasma parameters in the divertor region of the COMPASS tokamak was studied using the array of 39 Langmuir probes embedded into the divertor target. The current-voltage (IV) probe characteristics were processed by the first-derivative probe technique to obtain the plasma potential and the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) which was approximated by a bi-Maxwellian EEDF with a low-energy (4-6 eV) fraction and a high-energy (11-35 eV) one, the both factions having similar electron density. Clear splitting was observed during the RMP pulse in the low-field-side scrape-off-layer profiles of the floating potential U _fl and the ion saturation current density J _sat; these two quantities were obtained both by direct continuous measurement and by evaluation of the IV characteristics of probes with swept bias. The negative peaks of U _fl induced by RMP spatially overlaps with the local minima of J _sat (and n _e) rather than with its local maxima which is partly caused by the spatial variation of the plasma potential and partly by the changed shape of the EEDF. The effective temperature of the whole EEDF is not correlated with the negative peaks of U _fl, and the profile of the parallel power flux density shows secondary maxima due to RMP which mimic those of J _sat. (paper)

[en] The role of the COMPASS tokamak in research of generation, confinement and losses of runaway electron (RE) population is presented. Recently, two major groups of experiments aimed at improved understanding and control of the REs have been pursued. First, the effects of the massive gas injection ($\sim <!--\; ???\; -->{10}^{21}$ Ar/Ne particles) and impurity seeding ($\sim <!--\; ???\; -->{10}^{18}$ particles) were studied systematically. The observed phenomena include generation of the post-disruption RE beam and current conversion from plasma to RE. Zero loop voltage control was implemented in order to study the decay in simplified conditions. A distinctive drop of background plasma temperature and electron density was observed following an additional deuterium injection into the RE beam. With the loop voltage control the parametric dependence of the current decay rate dI/dt can be studied systematically and possibly extrapolated to larger facilities. Second, recent results of experiments focused on the role of the magnetic field in physics of RE were analysed. In this contribution, special attention is given to the observed effects of the resonant magnetic perturbation on the RE population. The benefits of the RE experiments on COMPASS was reinforced by diagnostic enhancements (fast cameras, Cherenkov detector, vertical ECE etc) and modelling efforts (in particular, coupling of the METIS and LUKE codes). (paper)