Status of the RFX experiment

The first results obtained in the RFX reversed field pinch experiment after the 1995 machine modifications ate reported. The confinement, for fully stationary discharges at 0.6 MA. has now reached the expected values, even in the presence of MHD wall locked modes. Studies on locked mode effects have evidenced currents flowing from the plasma into the vessel in the region of locking. Measurements on plasma rotation and radial electric field have shown a perpendicular velocity sheer at the edge similar to what is found in tokamaks and stellarators. New measurements on edge superthermal electrons and some evidence of their correlation with plasma core characteristics are included.