Big Dee - A Flexible Facility Operating Near Breakeven Conditions

The Doublet III tokamak facility is presently undergoing an upgrade to Big Dee, a device projected to be capable of producing plasmas with parameters approaching breakeven conditions, albeit in hydrogen plasmas. The goal of the upgrade has been to develop a facility capable of studying confinement and beta in non-circular discharges at parameters near breakeven conditions while maintaining the flexibility and accessibility necessary to allow a wide range of problems to be addressed. The upgrade replaces the vacuum vessel and outermost plasma shaping coils allowing higher plasma currents and improved access.