Studies of Fusion Burn Control

Findings from a general study of issues associated with operation control of burning fusion plasmas are reported, and applications to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) are given.A number of control variables are discussed. A zero-dimensional system has been developed, and stability against coupled temperature and density variations is studied. Space-dependent energy balance and transition to thermonuclear burn are analyzed as are maximum obtainable Q values under subignited operation conditions.Control designs with different input-output strategies are analyzed and numerically simulated, and a numerical experiment on system identification is performed. Requirements on diagnostics are discussed, and areas for further study are identified.