Plasma Disruption
A disruption is the sudden, violent loss of plasma confinement — the defining hazard of a tokamak. Kronos budgets an 11.5 GJ event at 43.0 MA.
- What
- Sudden collapse of the confined plasma
- Loads
- Thermal, electromagnetic, mechanical
- Kronos design case
- 11.5 GJ · ~630 MN at 43.0 MA (KX-24D)
- Open item
- Runaway-electron mitigation
A disruption is the sudden, uncontrolled termination of a tokamak plasma: within milliseconds the confinement collapses, dumping the plasma's thermal and magnetic energy into the surrounding structure. It is the single most demanding off-normal event a tokamak must survive, producing intense heat pulses, huge electromagnetic forces, and beams of runaway electrons.
Kronos MetroVolt designs against a disruption energy of 11.5 GJ at its 43.0 MA plasma current (~630 MN vertical load, KX-24D; the earlier 10.3 GJ / 590 MN figures are the as-run history), and the design series is candid that runaway-electron mitigation remains an open item. The negative-triangularity edge, strong vertical control, and passive conducting plates all work to make disruptions less likely and less damaging — but the loads are budgeted, not wished away.