Progress in JT-60SA Construction, Research Plan and Research Activities
Maiko Yoshida for the JT-60SA Team and JT-60SA Research Plan Contributors
Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 801-1, Mukoyama, Naka 311-0193, Japan
yoshida.maiko@jaea.go.jp

The JT-60SA project has been developed under the Broader Approach agreement andJapanese domestic program. Mission of the JT-60SA project is to contribute to early
realization of fusion energy by addressing key issues for ITER and DEMO. Examinations onJT-60SA will enable us to carry out ITER experiments efficiently to reach the goal in theITER project. Results in JT-60SA will give a practically acceptable DEMO plasma design
and a reliable idea of plasma control schemes for a power plant.
The JT-60SA device is capable of confining break-even-equivalent class high-temperature
deuterium plasmas with high plasma current (5.5 MA), lasting for a duration (typically 100 s)
longer than the time scales characterizing key plasma processes, such as energy / particle
confinement time and current diffusion time, using superconducting toroidal and poloidal
field coils. For the fist plasma in March 2019, the manufacture of the main components has
been going well on schedule both in the EU and Japan, and the JT-60SA project is now
entering a new phase as it moves from manufacture of components to assembly. Threeequilibrium field coils were installed on the cryostat base in January 2014, then, assembly ofthe vacuum vessel started in May.
Parallel to the JT-60SA construction, the research plan for JT-60SA has been discussed in
the fusion communities in Japan and Europe (more than 330 researchers from 40 institutes) todeepen and sharpen the research strategy for JT-60SA [1]. The JT-60SA Research Plansummarizes research objectives and strategy in JT-60SA experiments covering all the major
research fields contributing to ITER and DEMO. Note that discussing the JT-60SA Research
Plan is not only for future experiments but also for the present studies related to JT-60SA,
ITER and DEMO.
Experiments in JT-60SA will be conducted over a wide range of operational regimes
including ITER and DEMO relevant regimes. Simultaneous achievement of such high plasma
performances (normalized βN~4, confinement enhancement factor HHy2~1.3, bootstrap
current fraction fBS~0.7, normalized density fGW~1, radiation power ratio frad~0.9,
non-inductive current drive fraction fCD~1) will be tried by capitalizing on high power andcurrent drive (10 MW N-NB, 7 MW ECRF, 24 MW P-NB), various torque input (co-,counter- and perpendicular-NBI), highly shaped configuration, flexible impurity seeding,pellet injection, etc. Plasma transport of bulk and energetic particles and micro and macro
stabilities will be investigated in ITER and DEMO relevant regimes (high beta, highlyself-regulating, dominant electron heating, low collisionality, small gyro radius, etc.).
Theoretical models and simulation codes will be developed and validated using theobservations in JT-60SA. The models and codes will be used for plasma prediction anddevelopment of an operation scenario in ITER and DEMO. Control schemes of plasma
profiles, impurities, radiation, MHD instabilities, disruption, ELMs, etc. will be examined inJT-60SA high performance plasmas to propose a useful control scheme in ITER and DEMO.
Both physics understanding of high performance plasmas (leading to plasma modeling) anddeveloping plasma control systems are critical issues for ITER and DEMO that should beundertaken in JT-60SA.
[1] JT-60SA Research Plan version 3.1, http://www.jt60sa.org/b/index_nav_3.htm?n3/operation.htm