Relation of vertical stability and aspect ratio in tokamaks

It is evaluated how the upper limit to plasma elongation κ, caused by vertical stability, varies with the aspect ratio A=R/a of the tokamak. Equilibria were generated with EFITD and the vertical stability was assessed by GATO. For a 'generic' tokamak with a superconducting wall conformal to the plasma shape and a distance 0.5 a away from the plasma edge and a constant current profile (q0=1.0, li≅1.0, q95=3.2) it is found that the maximum stable κ decreased only slowly from 2.65 at A=2.0 to 2.4 at A=6.0. To first order, a reasonable assumption in trade-off studies of new machine designs is no dependence of κmax on A. (author). Letter-to-the-editor. 13 refs, 3 figs, 1 tab