A preliminary engineering assessment of the ITER CDA ECH Launcher

A preliminary engineering study of the ITER electron cyclotron heating (ECH) launcher configuration proposed by the ITER Conceptual Design Activity (CDA) team has been performed to assess its survivability in the ITER nuclear environment. Potential problem areas are with the vacuum windows, the plasma‐facing mirrors, and some of the other high‐power waveguide components that are untested in a reactor environment. The study indicates that the CDA design is quite robust, since the mirror power density is relatively low and the windows are well shielded. Although the CDA ECH system is unlikely to be built as proposed, most analysis techniques developed to study this system will apply to future ITER ECH system configurations. The vacuum window is likely to be the most difficult launcher component to develop. Design for a proposed resonant ring for high‐power testing of windows using existing lower‐power gyrotrons is presented.