Steady-state tokamak research: Core physics

Tokamaks have demonstrated excellent plasma confinement capability because of their symmetry but has an intrinsic drawback because of their pulsed inductive operation. Efforts have been made in the past 20 years to realize steady-state operation, the most successful utilizing a bootstrap current. In this review, progress in understanding tokamak physics related to steady-state operation is described to investigate the scientific feasibility of a steady-state tokamak fusion power system. DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.84.1807