Overview of ITER-FEAT - The future international burning plasma experiment

Abstract

The focus of effort in ITER EDA since 1998 has been on the development of a new design to meet revised technical objectives and a cost reduction target of about 50% of the previously accepted cost estimate. Drawing on the design solutions already developed, and using the latest physics results and outputs from technology R&D projects, the Joint Central Team and Home Teams, working together, have been able to progress towards a new design which will allow the exploration of a range of burning plasma conditions, with a capacity to progress towards possible modes of steady state operation. The new ITER design, whilst having reduced technical objectives from those of its predecessor, will nonetheless meet the programmatic objective of providing an integrated demonstration of the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy. The main features of the current design and of its projected performance are introduced and the outlook for construction and operation is summarized.

Anomalous transport of energetic particles in ITER relevant scenarios

“…Second, the ejection of even a small fraction of suprathermal particles can cause a significant heat load on plasma facing materials, posing a serious threat to long term operation. Several classes of high energy ions will characterize ITER [1], the first tokamak capable of sustaining steady state discharges characterized by a significant value of Q, the ratio of fusion power and power input to the machine. Suprathermal particles in ITER can be created by fusion reactions (α particles), neutral beam injection (NBI) or radiofrequency heating (ICRH).…”

Initial active MHD spectroscopy experiments exciting stable Alfvén eigenmodes in Alcator C-Mod

“…Moderate mode toroidal number n ~ 10 Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) are expected to be unstable [1] in the next step fusion device ITER [2], which will be dominated by fast α particle heating. If Alfvén eigenmodes are not sufficiently damped, they may lead to anomalous losses of the fast ions, which could quench the fusion burn or if the losses are highly localised could lead to rapid and substantial damage to the first wall [3].…”

Experimental validation of similarity in high-temperature plasmas

“…The device size in this demonstration spans from the centerpoint (DIII-D) downward a factor of 2.6 (Alcator C-Mod) and upward a factor of 1.8 (JET). The total size ratio of 4.4 is smaller than the ratio from JET to possible next-step devices (<3) [14][15][16]. This type of comparison is somewhat misleading since the appropriate physics measure of size is 1/ρ * , the number of gyroradii spanning the minor radius.…”