Open and Emerging Control Problems in Tokamak Plasma Control
M. L. Walker, E. Schuster, D. Mazon, and D. Moreau
IEEE Conference on Decision and Control
Cancun, Mexico, December 9-11, 2008
Abstract
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The tokamak concept for magnetic confinement
of fusion plasmas is now quite mature scientifically. This
maturity is evidenced by the ongoing worldwide effort to design
and construct an internationally supported multi-billion dollar
experimental tokamak called ITER, whose purpose is to
demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion
energy as a power source. To achieve its scientific objectives,
the ITER device will need to implement solutions to several
challenging control problems. Some solutions to these control
problems are already mature, e.g. control of the plasma
boundary shape and stabilization of the vertical stability, but
many other solutions are currently in development or do not
yet have viable solution approaches. In almost all cases, control
solutions developed on existing tokamaks are made more
challenging on ITER by safety issues arising from its nuclear
mission and control actuation margins that are reduced due to
cost considerations. However, many of these problems must
have robust solutions in place before ITER comes online in
approximately 2016. In this paper, we summarize a set of the
most urgently needed control solutions and describe the
progress made toward solving a few of these problems.