Public Abstract

DE-SC0023399: Long Pulse ITER Scenarios and Control on KSTAR

Award Status: Active

Institution: General Atomics, San Diego, CA
UEI: TVRYQ3N3B8H5
DUNS: 067638957

Most Recent Award Date: 07/23/2024
Number of Support Periods: 3
PM: Lanctot, Matthew

Current Budget Period: 09/01/2024 - 08/31/2025
Current Project Period: 09/01/2022 - 08/31/2025
PI: Barr, Jayson

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

Project Title: Long Pulse ITER Scenarios and Control on KSTAR PI/Institutional Affiliation: Nicholas Eidietis, Ph.D., General Atomics (GA) Co-Investigators/Institutional Affiliations: Erik Gilson, Ph.D., Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL); Eugenio Schuster, Ph.D., Lehigh University (Lehigh); Kyungjin Kim, Ph.D., Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Project Objectives: The principal goals of this project, “Long Pulse ITER Scenarios and Control on KSTAR,” are to develop, enhance and assess ITER Q=10 scenarios and enabling controls on the long-pulse, superconducting KSTAR Tokamak (Daejeon, S. Korea). This project will further contribute to US Fusion Energy Sciences program goals by obtaining new understanding and answering critical questions in scenario and long pulse control research, primarily focused on ITER operational needs. The research will help develop the control methods and algorithms necessary for improving access to Q=10 ITER scenarios and their extension to include ITER-like ramp-up and ramp-down phases. Experiments will be conducted after the installation of the new Tungsten divertor planned for KSTAR in late 2022. The project will work synergistically with US domestic research at DIII-D, NSTX, and beyond, helping to maximize U.S. impact on the worldwide fusion efforts, support ITER, and will help to accelerate the KSTAR program. Project Description: The long pulse Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR, in South Korea) provides key opportunities for the United States (U.S.) collaboration to enable study and optimize ITER scenarios and control issues in a long pulse device with a tungsten divertor and reactor-relevant constraints of distant superconducting coils and a tungsten divertor. The project will be led by GA and performed by a team comprised of researchers from GA, PPPL, Lehigh, and ORNL. It will focus on improvement, demonstration and prediction of key ITER Q=10 scenarios on KSTAR, while qualifying ITER control solutions for disruption-free operation consistent with long pulse requirements. This research will advance U.S. leadership in areas critical for reliable operation and success for ITER, and help to position the U.S. for a key role in ITER scenarios and control. Studies of candidate Q=10 scenarios on short pulse devices have been largely limited to discharge durations comparable to or less than a resistive relaxation time. Qualification of ITER inductive scenarios on existing long pulse devices (i.e., for many resistive relaxation times and approaching or exceeding wall particle equilibration times) should minimize the need for iterative scenario development on ITER, and reduce schedule risk for the ITER program. Many control solutions needed to sustain these scenarios are being developed on short pulse devices and require extension to long pulse. Making use of achievements from previous efforts on KSTAR and DIII-D, this project will improve and extend KSTAR’s ITER Q=10 Baseline Scenario, study of ITER-like ramp-up and ramp-down, and develop the control for extending the Advanced Inductive “Hybrid” scenarios on KSTAR to the ITER shape. Enabling and supporting control solutions for scenario maintenance and disruption-free operation will be synergistically developed to aid in the scenario development and produce critical control tools for ITER. Simulations and real-time control algorithms will be developed and qualified for ITER scenario planning and optimization on KSTAR, including demonstration of gain-control during long pulse operation, assessment of effects on performance and scenario access with the new tungsten divertor, qualification of ITER continuous control and Exception Handling (EH) algorithms, development of response models and control solutions for scenario control, and the development of robust real-time disruption avoidance and prevention tools.

Project Title: Long Pulse ITER Scenarios and Control on KSTAR

PI/Institutional Affiliation: Nicholas Eidietis, Ph.D., General Atomics (GA)

Co-Investigators/Institutional Affiliations: Erik Gilson, Ph.D., Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL); Eugenio Schuster, Ph.D., Lehigh University (Lehigh); Kyungjin Kim, Ph.D., Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Project Objectives:

The principal goals of this project, “Long Pulse ITER Scenarios and Control on KSTAR,” are to develop, enhance and assess ITER Q=10 scenarios and enabling controls on the long-pulse, superconducting KSTAR Tokamak (Daejeon, S. Korea). This project will further contribute to US Fusion Energy Sciences program goals by obtaining new understanding and answering critical questions in scenario and long pulse control research, primarily focused on ITER operational needs. The research will help develop the control methods and algorithms necessary for improving access to Q=10 ITER scenarios and their extension to include ITER-like ramp-up and ramp-down phases. Experiments will be conducted after the installation of the new Tungsten divertor planned for KSTAR in late 2022. The project will work synergistically with US domestic research at DIII-D, NSTX, and beyond, helping to maximize U.S. impact on the worldwide fusion efforts, support ITER, and will help to accelerate the KSTAR program.

Project Description:

The long pulse Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR, in South Korea) provides key opportunities for the United States (U.S.) collaboration to enable study and optimize ITER scenarios and control issues in a long pulse device with a tungsten divertor and reactor-relevant constraints of distant superconducting coils and a tungsten divertor. The project will be led by GA and performed by a team comprised of researchers from GA, PPPL, Lehigh, and ORNL. It will focus on improvement, demonstration and prediction of key ITER Q=10 scenarios on KSTAR, while qualifying ITER control solutions for disruption-free operation consistent with long pulse requirements. This research will advance U.S. leadership in areas critical for reliable operation and success for ITER, and help to position the U.S. for a key role in ITER scenarios and control. Studies of candidate Q=10 scenarios on short pulse devices have been largely limited to discharge durations comparable to or less than a resistive relaxation time. Qualification of ITER inductive scenarios on existing long pulse devices (i.e., for many resistive relaxation times and approaching or exceeding wall particle equilibration times) should minimize the need for iterative scenario development on ITER, and reduce schedule risk for the ITER program. Many control solutions needed to sustain these scenarios are being developed on short pulse devices and require extension to long pulse. Making use of achievements from previous efforts on KSTAR and DIII-D, this project will improve and extend KSTAR’s ITER Q=10 Baseline Scenario, study of ITER-like ramp-up and ramp-down, and develop the control for extending the Advanced Inductive “Hybrid” scenarios on KSTAR to the ITER shape. Enabling and supporting control solutions for scenario maintenance and disruption-free operation will be synergistically developed to aid in the scenario development and produce critical control tools for ITER. Simulations and real-time control algorithms will be developed and qualified for ITER scenario planning and optimization on KSTAR, including demonstration of gain-control during long pulse operation, assessment of effects on performance and scenario access with the new tungsten divertor, qualification of ITER continuous control and Exception Handling (EH) algorithms, development of response models and control solutions for scenario control, and the development of robust real-time disruption avoidance and prevention tools.