Changing MFTF vacuum environment

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) vacuum vessel will be about 60m long and 10m in diameter at the widest point. The allowable operating densities range from 2 x 109 to 5 x 1010 particles per cc. The maximum leak rate of 10-6 tl/sec is dominated during operation by the deliberately injected cold gas of 250 tl/sec. This gas is pumped by over 1000 square meters of cryopanels, external sorption pumps and getters. The design and requirements have changed radically over the past several years, and they are still not in final form. The vacuum system design has also changed, but more slowly and less radically. This paper discusses the engineering effort necessary to meet these stringent and changing requirements. Much of the analysis of the internal systems has been carried out using a 3-D Monte Carlo computer code, which can estimate time dependent operational pressures. This code and its use will also be described