Status of research toward the ITER disruption mitigation system

An overview of the present status of research toward the final design of the ITER disruption mitigation system (DMS) is given. The ITER DMS is based on massive injection of impurities, in order to radiate the plasma stored energy and mitigate the potentially damaging effects of disruptions. The design of this system will be extremely challenging due to many physics and engineering constraints such as limitations on port access and the amount and species of injected impurities. Additionally, many physics questions relevant to the design of the ITER disruption mitigation system remain unsolved such as the mechanisms for mixing and assimilation of injected impurities during the rapid shutdown and the mechanisms for the subsequent formation and dissipation of runaway electron current.