Abstract
Progress in physics understanding and theoretical model development of plasma transport and confinement (TC) in the ITPA TC Topical Group since the publication of the ITER Physics Basis (IPB) document (Doyle et al 2007 Nucl. Fusion 47 S18) was summarized focusing on the contributions to ITER and burning plasma prediction and control. This paper provides a general and streamlined overview on the advances that were mainly led by the ITPA TC joint experiments and joint activities for the last 15 years (see JEX/JA table in appendix). This paper starts with the scientific strategy and scope of the ITPA TC Topical group and overall picture of the major progress, followed by the progress of each research field: particle transport, impurity transport, ion and electron thermal turbulent transport, momentum transport, impact of 3D magnetic fields on transport, confinement mode transitions, global confinement, and reduced transport modeling. Cross references with other Topical Groups are given in order to highlight overlapped topics, such as the 3D effect on the plasma transport in the edge and L-H transition physics. The increasing overlap between the topical groups is a reflection of the progress on integrating the known physics into comprehensive models that are better and better able to reproduce the plasma transport. In recent years, such integration has become increasingly prevalent when considering transport from the SOL, through the edge pedestal, and into the plasma core. In the near future, increased collaboration also with the magneto-hydrodynamic and energetic particles community will be important as we approach burning plasma conditions in next-step fusion devices. A summary of remaining challenges and next steps for each research field is given in the Summary section.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 033001 |
| Journal | Nuclear Fusion |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2025 |
Funding
The author team would like to acknowledge the tremendous effort and help of the Guest Editors in charge of this chapter, Richard Hawryluk and Baonian Wan for this Nuclear Fusion Special Issue. In addition, we would like to thank the all of the experts of the ITPA Transport and Confinement (TC) topical group for their valuable comments and suggestions. Support for the authors of this Chapter as follows: The work by P. Mantica has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No. 101052200 EUROfusion). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and donot necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them. The work by G. Verdoolaege has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014\u2013 2018 and 2019\u20132020 under Grant Agreement No. 633053. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or the ITER Organization. The research was also partly supported by U.S. DOE Contract DE-AC02-09CH11466. The work by E. R. Solano is supported in part by Grant PID2021- 127727OBI00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF/EU. The work by G. Dif-Pradalier is supported by EPSRC Grant EP/R014604/1. This work is partially supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation. GDP would like to thank the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, for support and hospitality during the programme \u2018Antidiffusive dynamics: from sub-cellular to astroph where work on this paper was undertaken. The work by B.A. Grierson is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, using the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility, under Awards DE-FC02- 04ER54698. The work by S.M. Kaye is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Contract DEAC02-09CH11466. The work by J.W. Hughes is supported in part from the U.S. Department of Energy, under Awards DESC0021629 and DE-SC0014264. The work by S. Mordijck is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Fusion Energy Sciences, DE-SC0021306. The work by L. Schmitz is supported in part from the U.S. Department of Energy, under Awards DE-SC002-0287. The work by G. Staebler is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, under DE-AC05-00OR22725 (ORNL). This work by J. Snipes is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under Award DE-AC02-09CH11466 (PPPL).
Keywords
- ITPA
- plasma confinement
- plasma transport