Progress of the JT-60SA project

The JT-60SA project implemented by Japan and Europe is progressing on schedule towards the first plasma in March 2019. After careful R&D, procurements of the major components have entered their manufacturing stages. In parallel, disassembly of JT-60U has been completed on time, and the JT-60SA tokamak assembly is expected to start in January 2013. The JT-60SA device, a highly shaped large superconducting tokamak with a variety of plasma control actuators, has been designed in order to contribute to ITER and to complement ITER in all the major areas of fusion plasma development necessary to decide DEMO reactor construction. Detailed assessments and prediction studies of the JT-60SA plasma regimes have confirmed these capabilities: using ITER- and DEMO-relevant plasma regimes, heating conditions, and its sufficiently long discharge duration, JT-60SA enables studies on magnetohydrodynamic stability at high beta, heat/particle/momentum transport, high-energy ion physics, pedestal physics including edge localized mode control, and divertor physics. By integrating these studies, the project provides 'simultaneous and steady-state sustainment of the key performance characteristics required for DEMO' with integrated control scenario development.