Poloidal flux linkage requirements for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

Two computational models have been applied to calculate the poloidal flux linkage requirements for the current ramp-up and for the flat-top phase of the proposed International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). For the current ramp-up phase, the TSC code has been used to simulate the entire current ramp-up period as described in the TAC-3 Report. The time of the simulation has been extended to cover the full current penetration time, that is, until the loop voltage is a constant throughout the plasma. Sensitivity studies have been performed with respect to current ramp-up time, impurity concentration and to the time of onset of auxiliary heating. A steady state plasma equilibrium code has been used that has the constant loop voltage constraint built in to survey the dependence of the steady state loop voltage on the density and temperature profiles. This calculation takes into account the plasma bootstrap current contribution, including non-circular and collisional corrections. The results can be displayed as contours of the loop voltage on a POPCON-like diagram.