First operation in SPIDER and the path to complete MITICA.

The requirements of ITER neutral beam injectors (1 MeV, 40 A negative deuterium ion current for 1 h) have never been simultaneously attained; therefore, a dedicated Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF) was set up at Consorzio RFX (Padova, Italy). The NBTF includes two experiments: SPIDER (Source for the Production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from Rf plasma), the full-scale prototype of the source of ITER injectors, with a 100 keV accelerator, to investigate and optimize the properties of the ion source; and MITICA, the full-scale prototype of the entire injector, devoted to the issues related to the accelerator, including voltage holding at low gas pressure. The present paper gives an account of the status of the procurements, of the timeline, and of the voltage holding tests and experiments for MITICA.

Fast imaging system on Tore Supra.

A new endoscope aiming at transferring the image of a poloidal section of the Tore Supra plasma to a fast camera able to record frames at a speed up to 4800 frames per second at full resolution, or much faster for a limited number of pixel, has been installed on Tore Supra. First movies showing the light emission associated to fast phenomena such as plasma start up, disruptions or gas and pellet injections have been produced.