The ITER Ion Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive system will deliver 20MW of radio frequency power to the plasma in quasi continuous operation during the different phases of the experimental programme. The system also has to perform conditioning of the tokamak first wall at low power between main plasma discharges. This broad range of reqiurements imposes a high flexibility and a high availabiUty. The paper highlights the physics and design reqiurements on the IC system, the main features of its subsystems, the predicted performance, and the current procurement and installation schedide.

A 24 MW Electron Cyclotron (EC) system operating at 170 GHz and 3600 s pulse length is to be installed on ITER. The EC plant shall deliver 20 MW of this power to the plasma for Heating and Current Drive (H&CD) applications. The EC system is designed for plasma initiation, central heating, current drive, current profile tailoring, and Magneto-hydrodynamic control (in particular, sawteeth and Neo-classical Tearing Mode) in the flat-top phase of the plasma. A preliminary design review was performed in 2012, which identified a need for extended application of the EC system to the plasma ramp-up, flattop, and ramp down phases of ITER plasma pulse. The various functionalities are prioritized based on those applications, which can be uniquely addressed with the EC system in contrast to other H&CD systems. An initial attempt has been developed at prioritizing the allocated H&CD applications for the three scenarios envisioned: ELMy H-mode (15 MA), Hybrid ($12 MA), and Advanced ($9 MA) scenarios. This leads to the finalization of the design requirements for the EC sub-systems. [http://dx.

The Electron Cyclotron (EC) system for the ITER tokamak is designed to inject ≥20 MW RF power into the plasma for Heating and Current Drive (H&CD) applications. The EC system consists of up to 26 gyrotrons (between 1 to 2 MW each), the associated power supplies, 24 transmission lines and 5 launchers. The EC system has a diverse range of applications including central heating and current drive, current profile tailoring and control of plasma magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities such as the sawtooth and neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs). This diverse range of applications requires the launchers to be capable of depositing the EC power across nearly the entire plasma cross section. This is achieved by two types of antennas: an equatorial port launcher (capable of injecting up to 20 MW from the plasma axis to mid-radius) and four upper port launchers providing access from inside of mid radius to near the plasma edge. The equatorial launcher design is optimized for central heating, current drive and profile tailoring, while the upper launcher should provide a very focused and peaked current density profile to control the plasma instabilities.The overall EC system has been modified during the past three years taking into account the issues identified in the ITER design review from 2007 and 2008 as well as integrating new technologies. This paper will review the principal objectives of the EC system, modifications made during the past two years and how the design is compliant with the principal objectives.

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The electron cyclotron (EC) heating and current drive (H&CD) system developed for the ITER is made of 12 sets of high-voltage power supplies feeding 24 gyrotrons connected through 24 transmission lines (TL), to five launchers, four located in upper ports and one at the equatorial level. Nearly all procurements are in-J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves kind, following general ITER philosophy, and will come from Europe, India, Japan, Russia and the USA. The full system is designed to couple to the plasma 20 MW among the 24 MW generated power, at the frequency of 170 GHz, for various physics applications such as plasma start-up, central H&CD and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) activity control. The design takes present day technology and extends toward high-power continuous operation, which represents a large step forward as compared to the present state of the art. The ITER EC system will be a stepping stone to future EC systems for DEMO and beyond.The development of the EC system is facing significant challenges, which includes not only an advanced microwave system but also compliance with stringent requirements associated with nuclear safety as ITER became the first fusion device licensed as basic nuclear installations as of 9 November 2012.Since the conceptual design of the EC system was established in 2007, the EC system has progressed to a preliminary design stage in 2012 and is now moving forward toward a final design.

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