The laboratory states, "The capability to run long pulse plasmas on a regular basis opens the way to explore new scientific questions in ITER relevant conditions like the aging of the toroidal limiter under thermal cycling, limiter erosion and hydrogen trapping (co-deposition), real time discharge control and performance optimisation (confinement and stability) through a set of feedback control systems."

The remarkable result was obtained with the newly completed configuration of actively cooled plasma facing components which ensures that every square centimetre of the wall in front of the plasma is actively cooled. Two years were needed for the European industry to complete the complex manufacturing of the 600 fingers which constitute the toroidal limiter of the project, each of them being composed of 21 tiles made of carbon fibre composite bonded to the copper base. The more than 12,000 tiles have been individually controlled before final acceptance of the fingers. One and a half year was necessary to install the overall assembly, including the 5 meter in diameter limiter ring with a position accuracy of 1/10th of a millimetre to ensure an homogeneous distribution of the heat deposition.

The laboratory notes, "This record value, very quickly achieved during the experimental campaign, is in no case a limit in performance. The range of accessible parameters has now to be explored in order to establish its actual capability. In principle, energies exceeding a gigajoule should be achieved by the overall assembly corresponding to discharge durations of hundreds of seconds." ITER, the proposed fusion engineering test reactor, is aimed at 1000 second operation, with upgrade potential to continuous operation.

For further information see:

http://www-fusion-magnetique.cea.fr/cea/ts/description/ts_description01.htm
http://www-fusion-magnetique.cea.fr/cea/ts/description/ts_description02.htm