Multivariate Control in Fusion Energy: Need for a Virtual Fusion Controls Development Laboratory

The Need Two lines of evidence are converging to indicate that control software will be one of the key areas in which further progress must be made before practical magnetically confined fusion energy will be a reality. The first of these is lines of evidence is the observation that progress in the field of fusion energy has been so great that the temperature and density requirements needed for a burning plasma are close to being achieved; but, that stable plasma confinement time is a long way from being sufficient to make fusion energy practical.