Review of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) detailed design report

Dr. Martha Krebs, Director, Office of Energy Research at the US Department of Energy (DOE), wrote to the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC), in letters dated September 23 and November 6, 1996, requesting that FESAC review the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Detailed Design Report (DDR) and provide its view of the adequacy of the DDR as part of the basis for the United States decision to enter negotiations with the other interested Parties regarding the terms and conditions for an agreement for the construction, operations, exploitation and decommissioning of ITER. The letter from Dr. Krebs, referred to as the Charge Letter, provided context for the review and a set of questions of specific interest

Digital Control System for Vertical Stability of the TCV Plasma

In advanced mode operation of fusion devices, real time control plays a central role in achieving the desired plasma performance and minimizing the risk of disruptions. With the advances in digital technologies like Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and standard commercial computer processors, the development of digital control systems to use in fusion experiments has spread to all modern tokamaks. Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) had limited control capabilities due to the utilization of an analogue control system. In the first part of the PhD Program an Advanced Plasma Control System (APCS), capable of improving the capacity of control of highly configurable plasma shapes, position, current and density by the introduction of nonlinear digital controllers, was designed, implemented and integrated in TCV. Early tokamaks with circular cross-section plasmas were not prone to the vertical plasma column instability, an inherent problem arising in plasmas with vertically elongated cross sections, with benefits to the energy confinement time, increased plasma current and beta. To overcome this problem, complex closed feedback loop control systems with a vertical position measurement, signal processing, control algorithm, power supplies and active actuating coils are used. In the second part of the PhD Program a predictive vertical stabilization non-linear digital controller was designed and implemented, with the help of a new mathematical simulator based on a rigid plasma model. The layout of a method to define controllable limits for the plasma position and velocity may be used for the design of new control systems. Evidence is presented of the TCV vertical stability enhancement using the implemented controller during experimental tokamak discharges

DTT - Divertor Tokamak Test facility - Interim Design Report

The “Divertor Tokamak Test facility, DTT” is a milestone along the international program aimed at demonstrating – in the second half of this century – the feasibility of obtaining to commercial electricity from controlled thermonuclear fusion. DTT is a Tokamak conceived and designed in Italy with a broad international vision. The construction will be carried out in the ENEA Frascati site, mainly supported by national funds, complemented by EUROfusion and European incentive schemes for innovative investments. The project team includes more than 180 high-standard researchers from ENEA, CREATE, CNR, INFN, RFX and various universities. The volume, entitled DTT Interim Design Report (“Green Book” from the colour of the cover), briefly describes the status of the project, the planning of the design future activities and its organizational structure. The publication of the Green Book also provides an occasion for thorough discussions in the fusion community and a broad international collaboration on the DTT challenge

Energy: A continuing bibliography with indexes, issue 19

A bibliographical list of 1339 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system from July 1, 1978 through September 30, 1978 are presented