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Next year, the conceptual design activity for the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ plasma control system (PCS) will be launched. In order to discuss the lessons learned over the years in plasma control and their application to ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, a 3.5-day Plasma Control Workshop was organized this week in Cadarache, which brought together plasma control experts from the fusion devices in each of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Member states. The main goal of the Workshop was to investigate how best to exploit existing plasma control experience in the design and development of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ plasma control system, as well as the foreseen time schedule for its development and its integration into CODAC and associated systems.

Due to the scale and complexity of ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, the plasma control system must be robust, with extensive quality assurance and prior testing, necessitating a timely launching of the design activities. The experience gained through operation of existing devices utilizing a variety of approaches to and implementations of plasma control will be invaluable for the definition of the scope and goals of the conceptual and engineering design phase of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ system.

The Plasma Control Workshop was very well attended with representatives from all seven ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Member states plus EFDA (European Fusion Development Agreement), as well as 30 plasma control experts from outside the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ. ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ members from the Fusion Science & Technology Department, CODAC, and the Office for Central Integration & Engineering brought the total participant list to about 50 people.

Overall, there was broad agreement on a phased approach beginning with relatively simple control schemes, yet building in from the beginning a powerful architecture that retains the required flexibility to be able to easily expand the complexity of the control schemes as ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ operation evolves. A preliminary roadmap for the conceptual design of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ plasma control system was also agreed, making this a very successful workshop.