Public Abstract

DE-SC0010537: Fusion Pilot Plant and ITER Scenarios and Control

Award Status: Active

Institution: Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
UEI: E13MDBKHLDB5
DUNS: 808264444

Most Recent Award Date: 08/25/2023
Number of Support Periods: 11
PM: Lanctot, Matthew

Current Budget Period: 08/15/2023 - 08/14/2024
Current Project Period: 08/15/2022 - 08/14/2025
PI: Schuster-Rosa, Eugenio

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

FUSION PILOT PLANT AND ITER SCENARIOS AND CONTROL Andrea Garofalo, General Atomics (GA), Lead Principal Investigator (PI) Xueqiao Xu, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Collaborating Institution PI Eugenio Schuster, Lehigh University, Collaborating Institution PI Paul Bonoli, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Collaborating Institution PI Zhen Sun, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Collaborating Institution PI David Brower, University of California Los Angeles, Collaborating Institution PI The principal goals of this renewal project are to adapt high performance operating scenarios from DIII-D to the EAST (Hefei, China) superconducting tokamak, to develop the control knowledge and solutions to enable this adaptation, and to pioneer reactor-specific scenario and control solutions. Specific research objectives include the development of physics and control solutions necessary for demonstrating disruption-free long-pulse plasmas at high physics performance sustained simultaneously with the capability of handling the plasma exhaust and plasma-wall interactions using reactor-relevant materials surrounding the plasma. This was recently highlighted as a key strategic goal by both the 2020 FESAC Long Range Plan and the 2019-2020 APS-DPP Community Planning Process report. The proposed research will exploit the readiness and uniqueness of EAST to help secure a central U.S. role in ITER, while de facto retiring risks in fusion pilot plant (FPP) designs. The project will work synergistically with U.S. domestic research at DIII-D and beyond, helping to maximize its impact on worldwide fusion efforts, and will help to accelerate the EAST program. This project will be executed by a focused and integrated team of six U.S. institutions, including GA (lead institution), LLNL, Lehigh, MIT, PPPL, and UCLA. This project renewal will continue the previous collaborations (from 2013 to 2022) with EAST, implementing knowledge gained on DIII-D and making use of achievements from the previous efforts at EAST and KSTAR, including powerful remote operation resources that have enabled both high impact and productivity of the US effort even with the limitations for on-site presence imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Planned evolution in EAST resources will be taken into account, including advancements in diagnostics, and available heating and current drive (H&CD) powers (in all three frequency regimes). The project will extend high performance scenarios to long pulse with three interrelated tasks: 1. Prediction and Demonstration of High Performance Steady-State Scenarios, 2. Control for Disruption-free Scenario Realization and Robust Sustainment, 3. Power Handling and Core-Edge Integration. As was done in those grant years, a high level of integration among research tasks will be employed to maximize project effectiveness. Scenarios developed both experimentally on DIII-D and in simulation will be adapted and implemented on EAST long pulse experiments (Task 1) with the goal of developing the physics basis of fully non-inductive steady-state high performance operating scenarios in ITER and FPPs. New control algorithms and architectures required for the robust realization and sustainment of long-pulse advanced scenarios understanding and experimentally demonstrated solutions (Task 2) will be developed and implemented. Development and validation of plasma edge and advanced divertor solutions and related predictive capabilities (Task 3) will enable to integrate divertor heat and particle handling with core performance requirements for the long pulse plasma scenarios.

FUSION PILOT PLANT AND ITER SCENARIOS AND CONTROL

Andrea Garofalo, General Atomics (GA), Lead Principal Investigator (PI)

Xueqiao Xu, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Collaborating Institution PI

Eugenio Schuster, Lehigh University, Collaborating Institution PI

Paul Bonoli, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Collaborating Institution PI

Zhen Sun, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Collaborating Institution PI

David Brower, University of California Los Angeles, Collaborating Institution PI

The principal goals of this renewal project are to adapt high performance operating scenarios from DIII-D to the EAST (Hefei, China) superconducting tokamak, to develop the control knowledge and solutions to enable this adaptation, and to pioneer reactor-specific scenario and control solutions. Specific research objectives include the development of physics and control solutions necessary for demonstrating disruption-free long-pulse plasmas at high physics performance sustained simultaneously with the capability of handling the plasma exhaust and plasma-wall interactions using reactor-relevant materials surrounding the plasma. This was recently highlighted as a key strategic goal by both the 2020 FESAC Long Range Plan and the 2019-2020 APS-DPP Community Planning Process report. The proposed research will exploit the readiness and uniqueness of EAST to help secure a central U.S. role in ITER, while de facto retiring risks in fusion pilot plant (FPP) designs. The project will work synergistically with U.S. domestic research at DIII-D and beyond, helping to maximize its impact on worldwide fusion efforts, and will help to accelerate the EAST program. This project will be executed by a focused and integrated team of six U.S. institutions, including GA (lead institution), LLNL, Lehigh, MIT, PPPL, and UCLA. This project renewal will continue the previous collaborations (from 2013 to 2022) with EAST, implementing knowledge gained on DIII-D and making use of achievements from the previous efforts at EAST and KSTAR, including powerful remote operation resources that have enabled both high impact and productivity of the US effort even with the limitations for on-site presence imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Planned evolution in EAST resources will be taken into account, including advancements in diagnostics, and available heating and current drive (H&CD) powers (in all three frequency regimes). The project will extend high performance scenarios to long pulse with three interrelated tasks: 1. Prediction and Demonstration of High Performance Steady-State Scenarios, 2. Control for Disruption-free Scenario Realization and Robust Sustainment, 3. Power Handling and Core-Edge Integration. As was done in those grant years, a high level of integration among research tasks will be employed to maximize project effectiveness. Scenarios developed both experimentally on DIII-D and in simulation will be adapted and implemented on EAST long pulse experiments (Task 1) with the goal of developing the physics basis of fully non-inductive steady-state high performance operating scenarios in ITER and FPPs. New control algorithms and architectures required for the robust realization and sustainment of long-pulse advanced scenarios understanding and experimentally demonstrated solutions (Task 2) will be developed and implemented. Development and validation of plasma edge and advanced divertor solutions and related predictive capabilities (Task 3) will enable to integrate divertor heat and particle handling with core performance requirements for the long pulse plasma scenarios.