ITER-FEAT - the future international burning plasma experiment - present status

The focus of effort in the ITER engineering design activities (EDA) since 1 998 has been the development of a new design to meet revised technical obje ctives and a cost reduction target of about 50% of the previously accepted cost estimate. Drawing on the design solutions already developed and qualified during the EDA and using the latest physics results and outputs from technology resear ched development projects, the Joint Central Team and Home Teams, working t ogether, have been able to converge towards a design which meets, in genera l, the revised objectives and provides acceptable margins against the unavo idable uncertainties in performance projections. The new design will allow the exploration of a range of burning plasma cond itions in which energetic a-particles are the dominant source of plasma hea ting and the main determinants of plasma behaviour, with the capacity to pr ogress towards possible modes of steady state operation. Such plasma perfor mance both necessitates, and provides a test-bed for, a range of advanced t echnologies required to establish fusion as a practical energy source. As s uch the new ITER design, whilst having reduced technical objectives from it s predecessor, will nonetheless meet the programmatic objective of providin g an integrated demonstration of the scientific and technological feasibili ty of fusion energy. The main features of the current design and of its projected performance ar e presented and the outlook for construction and operation is discussed.