Heating Neutral Beams for ITER: Present Status

Abstract—The heating neutral beam (HNB) systems at ITER are designed to inject a total of 33 MW of either 1 MeV D0 or 870 keV H0 beams into the ITER plasma using two injectors with a possible addition of a third injector later to increase the injected power to ∼50 MW. The injectors operate in a radioactive environment and should survive the life time of ITER, placing thereby stringent requirements on material and manufacturing choices. To ensure a smooth operational phase of neutral beams at ITER, a neutral beam test facility is under construction at Consorzio RFX, Padova, (hereinafter referred to as RFX), and consists of two test beds. The 100-kV SPIDER test bed will be used to optimize the source operation for H and D beams. The 1-MV MITICA test bed is essentially a full scale ITER prototype injector. The manufacturing and operational experiences at MITICA will not only establish the manufacturing processes of ITER HNB components but will also allow validation of the operational space of the injectors for ITER HNB. Operation of the two facilities is expected to begin in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Currently, the experiments on the ELISE facility, IPP Garching, with a half ITER sized RF beam source are underway. The ITER relevant parameters for the H beams have been achieved. Efforts are underway to optimize the same with D beams. The experimental database from ELISE will be an important input for establishing the SPIDER operation. This paper discusses the present status of the design and development of the injectors for ITER and the progress on the test facilities.