The longest tokamak discharge, with a duration of 11 406 s (3 h 10 min), has been achieved. The global particle balance has been investigated. In the longest discharge, the global balance between the particle absorption and release of the wall was achieved at t ∼ 30 min. After that, the plasma density was maintained by the recycling flux alone until the end of the discharge. The maximum wall inventory is about 3.6 × 10 20 H at t ∼ 30 min, but it is finally released from the wall at the end of the discharge. The hydrogen release seems to be caused by the temperature increase in the whole toroidal area of the main chamber. Moreover, it has been observed that there is a large difference between the properties of wall recycling in the continuous gas feed case (i.e. static condition) and in the additional gas puff case (i.e. dynamic condition). In the static condition, the effective particle confinement time increases to ∼10 s during the 1 min discharge and it increases to ∼100 s before the global balance in the longest discharge. In the dynamic condition, the decay time of the electron density just after the gas puff, i.e. the effective particle confinement time, is constant at 0.2-0.3 s during the discharge. The large difference in the effective particle confinement time between the static and dynamic conditions seems to be caused by the reduction in the recycling coefficient due to the enhanced wall pumping resulting from the additional gas puff.

An overview of steady state tokamak studies in TRIAM-1M (R0 = 0.8 m, a × b = 0.12 m × 0.18 m and B = 8 T) is presented. The current ramp-up scenario without using centre solenoid coils is reinvestigated with respect to controllability of the current ramp-up rate at the medium density region of (1–2) × 1019 m−3. The plasma is initiated by ECH (fundamental o-mode at 170 GHz with 200 kW) at B = 6.7 T, and the ramp-up rate below the technical limit of 150 kA s−1 for ITER can be achieved by keeping the LH power less than 100 kW during the current ramp-up phase. The physics understanding of the enhanced current drive (ECD) mode around the threshold power level has progressed from a viewpoint of transition probability. A transition frequency, ftrans, for the ECD transition is determined as a function of PCD. At ∼70 kW no transition occurs for an ftrans value of ∼0.017 Hz, meaning almost zero transition probability. With increasing PCD > Pth, ftrans increases up to 10 Hz, and the transition tends to occur with high probability. The record value of the discharge duration is updated to 3 h 10 min in a low and low power (<10 kW) discharge. The global particle balance in long duration discharges is investigated, and the temporal change in wall pumping rate is determined. Although the density was low, the gas supply had to be stopped at 30 min after the plasma initiation to maintain the density constant. After that the density was sustained by the recycling flux alone until the end of the discharges. In addition to the recycling problem, in the high power and high density experiments, the localized PWI affects the SSO of the tokamak plasma. The effects of enhanced influx of metal impurities (Fe, Cr, Ni, Mo) on sustainment of the high performance ECD plasma are investigated. In order to evaluate the helium bombarding effects on the plasma facing component and hydrogen recycling in the future burning plasma, microscopic damage of metals exposed to long duration helium discharges was studied. The total exposure time was 128 s. From thermal desorption experiments for the specimens the amount of retained helium was evaluated as 3.9 × 1020 He m−2 and the scale length to be ∼1 mm in the SOL.