ITER Research Plan

The ITER Research Plan (IRP) is being developed to provide a guide to the research activities which should be undertaken within the framework of the ITER Project and will encompass both physics and technology research during ITER construction and operation. The Plan provides a framework linking and integrating the current research priorities of the Project with the preparation for future exploitation. Recent analysis has focused on the adaptation of the IRP to the Project's updated construction and operation schedule with the aim of developing an operational programme which makes the most rapid transition, within the overall Project constraints, to DT fusion energy production. The programme evolves through a period of non-active (hydrogen and helium) operation to allow full commissioning of the facility, a phase of deuterium operation in which operation with all-metallic PFCs will be established, followed by the transition to full DT operation and the production of plasmas with significant fusion energy gain. Identification of the key elements in the experimental programme leading to burning plasma studies allows priorities for R{\&}D activities required to prepare the efficient exploitation of the ITER device to be defined.