Observation of runaway electrons in the first EAST ohmic discharge

Plasma was first obtained successfully on the EAST Tokamak in the autumn of 2006. This was an ohmically heated plasma with rf-assisted pre-ionization for plasma startup. Many diagnostics systems were set up to satisfy the requirement for the description of basic plasma performance. Three hard X-ray detectors have been installed to monitor the runaway electrons with a tangential view into the plasma on the equatorial plane. A BGO (Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂) scintillator installed in the forward direction was used to detect the hard X-ray emission in the energy range 0.5-7 MeV while two CdTe detectors in the backward and forward directions are used to detect the hard X-ray emission in the energy range 0.3-1.2 MeV. Phenomena observed with these detectors in different discharge conditions are presented here.