DIII-D RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FORUM FOR THE 2013 EXPERIMENTAL CAMPAIGN Review | Direct submission with log-in | Request submission without log-in
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Title	304: Birth of ITER: the world's largest resistor
Name:	Gary Jackson jackson@fusion.gat.com	Affiliation:	General Atomics
Research Area:	General Physics	Presentation time:	Not requested
Co-Author(s):	--	ITPA Joint Experiment :	No
Description:	Evaluate conditions for ITER first plasma and validate with modeling	ITER IO Urgent Research Task :	No
Experimental Approach/Plan:	Before any plasma attempts in 2013, make a "dirty" plasma with no burnthrough, resembling the ITER first plasma (ITER parameters: 100 kA, 100ms, 0.3 V/m). DIII-D parameters: Ip=10-20 kA, Vloop = 3V, normal field nulls. ECH pre-ionization power scan to assess effectiveness.
Background:	ITER has very low expectations for first plasma. In fact, if it were to burnthrough and go to 1 MA or greater there is a concern that it might contact other parts of the unprotected vessel such as the outer wall and damage components. So there is an opportunity to study the opposite challenge that DIII-D usually faces: Can we reliably produce a plasma that doesn't burn through? We can then extrapolate this to ITER. Since ITER conditions will probably be poor vaccum and little conditioning, our startup provides a unique opportunity to assess this before applying any conditioning except baking.
Resource Requirements:	ECH pre-ionization and Vloop control (similar to ITER startup experiments)
Diagnostic Requirements:	Need visible cameras, magnetics, interferometers, Thomson, SPRED operating for this first plasma attempt
Analysis Requirements:	Develop breakdown models, and compare to startup model by Kim (JET). MHD equilibria at low current may require special attention to the magnetics.
Other Requirements:	--