ITER: Concept definition

Abstract

ITER: CONCERT DEFINITION. On the basis of the results of the investigation carried out since May 1988, an ITER concept has been defined which incorporates the maximum possible flexibility and allows a variety of plasma configurations and operating scenarios. For technology experiments, with a full breeding blanket, the machine can be operated typically with a plasma of 18 MA at a major radius of 5.5 tn. For the plasma physics experiments the same machine can, if required, be cot@ured with a thinner shield and produce a plasma of 22 MA with fully inductive operation and higher currents under limited conditions. A list of important ITER specific physics and technology R&D tasks has been developed. Implementation of these tasks is now under way.

Tritium proof-of-principle pellet injector results

“…The key to making good tritium pellets in a pipegun such as that used in the present experiments is to produce tritium with very low 3 He levels. Helium-3 levels on the order of 0.1% had serious detrimental effects on pellet size and strength.…”

“…Future fusion reactors, such as the Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) [2] and the International Thermonuclear Experiment-1 Reactor (ITER) [3], will be heavily dependent on tritium pellet fueling for their success. The TPOP experiment was conceived to begin the study of tritium pellet fueling by demonstrating the basic feasibility of tritium pellet production and acceleration.…”

“…The magnitude of decay heat is small compared to other themal parameter" and should not be a problem. However, 3 He has a known detrimental effect on cryopumping of tritium [4]. Furthermore, 3 He production may affect other critical properties such as thermal conductivity and mechanical strength.…”

“…However, 3 He has a known detrimental effect on cryopumping of tritium [4]. Furthermore, 3 He production may affect other critical properties such as thermal conductivity and mechanical strength. Therefore, the behavior of tritium in a peiiet injector may be quite different from that of other hydrogen isotopes.…”

“…In addition, the gun itself is very simple; there are no moving parts inside the gun where tritium compatibility and maintenance might be a problem. A cryogenic 3 He separator was included as part of the apparatus to meet the anticipated need for very high purity tritium. This paper describes the results of tritium experiments.…”