Unique design of Doublet and Big Dee vacuum vessels

The Doublet III tokamak now in its fourth year of operation at General Atomic Company, has its plasma contained in a kidney-shaped toroidal vacuum vessel, a configuration that presented unique design challenges. Most tokamak vacuum vessels are constructed of solid walled sections separated by either thin walled bellows (to increase the toroidal resistance) or by poloidal insulation breaks. Such control of the toroidal resistance is crucial in minimizing magnetic error fields in the plasma region caused by currents induced in the vessel by the changing fields. The Doublet III vessel is unique in its all-welded construction consisting of thin skins over a corrugated center. Such a construction results in a low cross sectional area of material to increase the toroidal resistance, while maintaining adequate strength. The design process for such a vessel is reviewed with a description of its design. In order to more closely address the design issues of next generation devices, plans are being formulated to modify Doublet III to a large Dee-shaped plasma facility. This would be accomplished by disassembling the device and replacing the Doublet vessel with a large Dee vessel. The design approach for the new vessel will be similar to that of the present vessel, but because of different operating requirements and experience gained in the operation of Doublet III and other large tokamaks, the specific design criteria are different. These differences and their implications are reviewed