Modelling of start-up assist by electron cyclotron waves for large-size tokamaks

This paper presents a model describing the plasma production in a tokamak by means of electron cyclotron microwave power and the initial ohmic current ramp-up. A zero-dimensional code is applied to the case of large-size, high magnetic field tokamaks and, in particular, to the case of the INTOR/NET tokamak. It is shown that the r.f. plasma can be produced and heated to temperatures of a few hundred eV with power densities of the order of 50 kW/m3. Detailed results are given for a case in which 4MW of electron cyclotron power is used to create a plasma whose steady-state temperature is well above the impurity radiation barriers. For the plasma inductance assumed and a current ramp-up rate of 0.625 MA/s, the ohmic current can be initiated in such a plasma with a total-loop voltage VL < 20V. The resistive contribution to the loop voltage is of the order of 1V