This paper reports results on the progress in steady-state high-βp ELMy H-mode discharges in JT-60U. A fusion triple product, nD(0)τETi(0), of 3.1 × 1020 m−3 s keV under full non-inductive current drive has been achieved at Ip = 1.8 MA, which extends the record value of the fusion triple product under full non-inductive current drive by 50%. A high-beta plasma with βN ∼ 2.7 has been sustained for 7.4 s (∼60τE), with the duration determined only by the facility limits, such as the capability of the poloidal field coils and the upper limit on the duration of injection of neutral beams. Destabilization of neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) has been avoided with good reproducibility by tailoring the current and pressure profiles. On the other hand, a real-time NTM stabilization system has been developed where detection of the centre of the magnetic island and optimization of the injection angle of the electron cyclotron wave are done in real time. By applying this system, a 3/2 NTM has been completely stabilized in a high-beta region (βp ∼ 1.2, βN ∼ 1.5), and the beta value and confinement enhancement factor have been improved by the stabilization.

The ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF), called PRIMA (Padova Research on ITER Megavolt Accelerator), is hosted in Padova, Italy and includes two experiments: MITICA, the full-scale prototype of the ITER heating neutral beam injector, and SPIDER, the full-size radio frequency negative-ions source. The NBTF realization and the exploitation of SPIDER and MITICA have been recognized as necessary to make the future operation of the ITER heating neutral beam injectors efficient and reliable, fundamental to the achievement of thermonuclear-relevant plasma parameters in ITER. This paper reports on design and R&D carried out to construct PRIMA, SPIDER and MITICA, and highlights the huge progress made in just a few years, from the signature of the agreement for the NBTF realization in 2011, up to now-when the buildings and relevant infrastructures have been completed, SPIDER is entering the integrated commissioning phase and the procurements of several MITICA components are at a well advanced stage.

The current drive capability of negative ion based neutral beam injection (N-NBI) in JT-60U has been extended to the reactor relevant regime. The driven current profile and current drive efficiency have been evaluated in a high electron temperature regime Te(0) ≈ 10 keV, and reasonable agreement with the theoretical prediction has been confirmed in this regime. The N-NB driven current reached 1 MA with an injection power of 3.75 MW at a beam energy of 360 keV. A current drive efficiency of 1.55 × 1019A m-2 W-1, approaching the ITER requirement, was achieved in the high βp H mode plasma with Te(0) ≈ 13 keV. This current drive performance permitted sustainment of a high beta (βN = 2.5) and high confinement (HHy2 = 1.4) plasma in the full current driven condition at a plasma current of 1.5 MA. The influence of instabilities on the N-NBI current drive was studied. When a burst-like instability driven by N-NBI occurred in the central region, reductions in loop voltage near the magnetic axis and in the neutron production rate due to loss of beam ions were observed although the lost driven current was at most ∼7% of the total driven current. When a neoclassical tearing instability appeared in high beta plasmas, the loss of beam ions was enhanced with increasing instability activity.

The 500-keV negative-ion based neutral beam injector for JT-60U started operation in 1996. The availability of the N-NBI system has been improved gradually through modifying ion source and optimizing its operation parameters. Recently, the extension of the pulse duration up to 30 sec has been intended to study quasi-steady state plasma on JT-60U. The most serious issue is to reduce the heat load on the grids for long pulse operation. Two modifications have been proposed to reduce the heat load. One is to suppress the beam spread which may caused by beamlet-beamlet interaction in the multi-aperture grid due to the space charge force. Indeed, the investigation of the beam deflection, which was measured by the infrared camera on the target plate set 3.5 m away from the grid, indicates the beam spread is in proportion to the current density. Thin plates were attached on the extraction grid to modify the local electric field. The plate thickness was optimized to steer the beamlet deflection. The other is to reduce the stripping loss, where the electron of the negative ion beam is stripped and accelerated in the ion source and then collides with the grids. The ion source was modified to reduce the pressure in the accelerator column to suppress the beam-ion stripping loss. Up to now, long pulse injection of 17 sec for 1.6 MW and 25 sec for ~1 MW has been obtained by one ion source with these modifications.

Hydrogen negative ion beams of 507 keV, 1 A and 486 keV, 2.8 A have been successfully produced in the JT-60U negative ion source with a three-stage accelerator by overcoming a poor voltage holding of the accelerator with large-size grids of ∼2 m2. This is the first result of H− beam acceleration up to 500 keV at a high current of over 1 A. In order to improve the voltage holding capability, the breakdown voltages of the large-size grids and small-size electrodes with uniform and locally strong electric fields were examined by changing the gap length. It was found that the voltage holding of the large-size grids was below half of that of the small-size electrodes with a uniform electric field which was used in the design of the accelerator. This degradation was found to be caused by the local electric field concentrations in addition to the size. Based on the results of the voltage holding tests and beam optics calculations, the gap lengths of the large-size grids were tuned to have a capability to sustain 600 kV. As a result, the gap tuning realized stable voltage holding during beam accelerations without significant degradations of the beam optics and stripping loss. These results indicated that stable 500 keV beam accelerations required for JT-60SA are feasible and this gap tuning is also applicable for the design of ITER accelerator.