The new ITER baseline, research plan and open R&D issues
Journal article, 2025
A new baseline (NB) has been proposed by the ITER Project to ensure a robust achievement of the Projects’ goals, in view of past challenges including delays incurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, technical challenges in completing first-of-a-kind components and in nuclear licensing. The NB includes modifications to the configuration of the ITER device and its ancillaries (e.g. change from beryllium to tungsten as first wall material, modification of the heating and current drive mix, etc.) as well as additional testing of components (e.g. toroidal field coils) or phased installation (start with inertially cooled first wall before later installation of the final actively water-cooled components) to minimise operational risks. In the NB, the ITER research plan (IRP) will be divided into three main phases: (a) start of research operation, with 40 MW of ECH and 10 MW of ICH, which will focus on the demonstration of 15 MA operation in L-mode, commissioning of all required systems, including disruption mitigation, and the demonstration of H-mode plasma operation in deuterium; (b) DT-1, with 60-67 MW of ECH, 33 MW of neutral beam injection (NBI) and 10-20 MW of ICH, which will demonstrate robust operation in high confinement H-mode plasmas in DT up to Q ⩾ 10 and for burn durations of 300-500 s within an accumulated neutron fluence of ∼1% of the ITER machine’s lifetime total, and; (c) DT-2, with up to 67 MW of ECH, up to 49.5 MW of NBI and up to 20 MW of ICH, with the ITER tokamak and ancillaries in their final configuration to demonstrate routine operation in DT plasmas at high Q and the Q ⩾ 5 long-pulse and steady-state scenarios to the final neutron fluence and to perform R&D on nuclear fusion reactor issues. The logic, physics basis, modelling and experimental evaluations carried out to support the NB and the associated IRP are described. These include the impact of the tungsten wall on plasma scenarios and associated risk mitigation measures, as well as the optimisation of the tokamak components and ancillaries to minimise Project risks. Open R&D issues related to these evaluations and mitigation measures are also described together with experimental, modelling and validation activities required to address them.
open R&D issues
W wall
burning plasmas
heating and current drive
ITER
research plan
Author
A Loarte
ITER Organization
R. Pitts
ITER Organization
T Wauters
ITER Organization
I. Nunes
ITER Organization
P.C. de Vries
ITER Organization
S.H. Kim
ITER Organization
F. Kochl
ITER Organization
A. R. Polevoi
ITER Organization
M Lehnen
ITER Organization
J. Artola
ITER Organization
S. Jachmich
ITER Organization
A. Pshenov
ITER Organization
X. Bai
ITER Organization
I. Carvalho
ITER Organization
M. Dubrov
ITER Organization
National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"
Y. Gribov
ITER Organization
M. Schneider
ITER Organization
L. Zabeo
ITER Organization
X. Bonnin
ITER Organization
S. D. Pinches
ITER Organization
F. Poli
ITER Organization
G. Suarez Lopez
ITER Organization
M. Merola
ITER Organization
F. Escourbiac
ITER Organization
R. Hunt
ITER Organization
L. Chen
ITER Organization
D. Boilson
ITER Organization
P. Veltri
ITER Organization
N. Casal
ITER Organization
M. Preynas
ITER Organization
A. Mukherjee
ITER Organization
W. Helou
ITER Organization
F. Kazarian
ITER Organization
S. Willms
ITER Organization
I. Bonnet
ITER Organization
R. Michling
ITER Organization
L. Giancarli
ITER Organization
J. van der Laan
ITER Organization
M. Walsh
ITER Organization
V. Udintsev
ITER Organization
R. Reichle
ITER Organization
G. Vayakis
ITER Organization
A. Fossen
ITER Organization
M. Turnyanskiy
ITER Organization
A. Becoulet
ITER Organization
Yutaka Kamada
ITER Organization
G. Zhuang
University of Science and Technology of China
G. Xu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
X. Gong
Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. Huang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
M. Jia
Chinese Academy of Sciences
R. Ding
Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. Qian
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Y. Sun
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Q. Yang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
L. Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
M. Xu
Southwestern Institute of Physics China
L. Zhang
Southwestern Institute of Physics China
S. Brezinsek
Jülich Research Centre
J. Stober
Max Planck Society
J. Hobirk
Max Planck Society
F.G. Rimini
Culham Science Centre
J. Garcia
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
S. L. Rao
Institute for Plasma Research India
J. Ghosh
Institute for Plasma Research India
D. Sharma
Institute for Plasma Research India
B. Magesh
Institute for Plasma Research India
R. P. Bhattacharya
Institute for Plasma Research India
G. Matsunaga
National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology
H. Urano
National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology
T. Hirose
National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology
K. Ogawa
National Institutes of Natural Sciences
G. Motojima
National Institutes of Natural Sciences
C. Sung
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
H. H. Lee
National Fusion Research Institute
J. Park
Seoul National University
M. S. Cheon
National Fusion Research Institute
Y. Jeon
National Fusion Research Institute
S. Konovalov
National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"
S. Lebedev
Russian Academy of Sciences
N. Kirneva
National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"
Yu Kashchuk
The State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM
N. Bakharev
Russian Academy of Sciences
X. Chen
General Atomics
A. Bortolon
Princeton University
L. Casali
University of Tennessee
R. Maingi
Princeton University
F. Turco
General Atomics
K. Schmid
Max Planck Society
Yueqiang Liu
General Atomics
J. R. Martìn-Solìs
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
C. Angioni
Max Planck Society
Istvan Pusztai
Subatomic, High Energy and Plasma Physics
D. Fajardo
Max Planck Society
D. Mateev
Jülich Research Centre
E. Lerche
Royal Military Academy
D. Van Eester
Royal Military Academy
P. Vincenzi
Consorzio Rfx
Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche
R. Futtersack
Culham Science Centre
V. Bobkov
Max Planck Society
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
0741-3335 (ISSN) 1361-6587 (eISSN)
Vol. 67 6 065023Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics
DOI
10.1088/1361-6587/add9c9