Overview of the Compact Ignition Tokamak^*

* Research sponsored by the Office of Fusion Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC05-840R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.

ABSTRACT

The Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) mission is to achieve ignition and provide the capability to experimentally study burning plasma behavior. A national team has developed a baseline concept including definition of the necessary research and development. The baseline concept satisfies the physics performance objectives established for the project and complies with defined design specifications. To ensure that the mission is achieved, the design requires large magnetic fields on axis (∼ 10 T) and use of large plasma currents (∼ 10 MA). The design is capable of accommodating significant auxiliary heating to enter the ignited regime. The CIT is designed to operate in plasma parameter regimes that are directly relevant to future fusion power reactors. The CIT uses a high-strength copper-Inconel composite plate toroidal magnet design and relies on inertial cooling starting from a liquid nitrogen temperature at the beginning of each pulse. The design is capable of both limiter and divertor operation. The design is compact (1.22 m major radius, 0.45 m plasma radius), has 20 toroidal field (TF) magnets, and has ten major horizontal access ports, about 20 cm by 80 cm, located between alternate TF coils. A total of 3000 full parameter deuterium-tritium (D-T) pulses and 50,000 partial parameter pulses are planned; each full parameter pulse is about 3–5 s. Significant fusion power (300–400 MW depending on ignition assumptions) will be generated; corresponding neutron wall loadings will be in the range 5–10 MW/m². The current schedule is for a construction project to be authorized for the period FY 1988–93.

Notes

* Research sponsored by the Office of Fusion Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC05-840R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.