Increases in alpha particle loss due to MHD activity in TFTR were observed
for both coherent modes and transient reconnection events using an array of
scintillator detectors near the wall. The magnitude of the coherent MHD in
duced alpha loss was normally comparable to the MHD quiescent first orbit o
r TF ripple loss, but the magnitude of the alpha loss during reconnection e
vents was up to 1000 times higher than this for a short time. Modelling sug
gests that the coherent MHD loss mechanism will be less significant for fut
ure reactor scale DT tokamaks due to the smaller ratio of the alpha gyrorad
ius to the minor radius.