Progress in the tokamak basic device development for the construction of fusion experimental reactors

Significant advance has been achieved in the technology of constructing tokamak basic devices of the Fusion Experimental Reactor (ITER, FER) at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). In the development of superconducting magnetic technology, and 1 m inner diameter pulsed coil (DPC-EX) using Nb3Sn was developed for poloidal coils and successfully charged up to 7 T in 0.5 s for the first time. For toroidal coils, the world's first Nb3Al 40 kA, 12 T conductor was developed and tested successfully. With regard to plasma facing components, JAERI has succeeded in developing a new plasma facing component that first achieved a high performance operation enduring 20 MW/m2, 30 s for 1000 thermal cycles. For the technology to assure the remote handling of in-vessel components such as divertors, a 1/5 scaled model of the vehicle system was developed and successfully operated. Time is ripe now for starting technology R and D with scalable models for ITER and FER. (author). 9 refs, 3 figs