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30th European Physical Society Conference on Controlled Fusion and Plasma Physics, St. Petersburg, 2003-07-07 to 2003-07-11
Abstract:
ITER will be the first magnetic confinement device with burning DT plasma and fusion power of about 0.5 GW. Parameters of ITER plasma have been predicted using
methodologies summarized in the ITER Physics Basis (1999 Nucl. Fusion 39 2175). During the past few years, new results have been obtained that substantiate confidence in
achieving Q ≥ 10 in ITER with inductive H-mode operation. These include achievement of a good H-mode confinement near the Greenwald density at high triangularity of the
plasma cross section; improvements in theory-based confinement projections for the core plasma, even though further studies are needed for understanding the transport near the
plasma edge; improvement in helium ash removal due to the elastic collisions of He atoms with D/T ions in the divertor predicted by modelling; demonstration of feedback control
of neoclassical tearing modes and resultant improvement in the achievable β-values; better understanding of edge localized mode (ELM) physics and development of ELM
mitigation techniques; and demonstration of mitigation of plasma disruptions. ITER will have a flexibility to operate also in steady-state and intermediate (hybrid) regimes. The
'advanced tokamak' regimes with weak or negative central magnetic shear and internal transport barriers are considered as potential scenarios for steady-state operation. The paper
concentrates on inductively driven plasma performance and discusses requirements for steady-state operation in ITER.
