Progress in Demonstration of the ITER Baseline Scenario on DIII-D

Previous experiments to simulate ITER operating scenarios on DIII-D matched the anticipated ITER design for plasma shape, aspect ratio and value of I/aB, with size reduced by a factor of 3.7. Operating with deuterium plasmas, $H_{98y2}\geq 1$ was obtained while operating at the ITER target $\beta_N$ of $\sim$1.8, i.e.\ key ITER performance targets were met. In 2010, attention changed to focus on investigating the performance of baseline scenario plasmas using H neutral beam injection into He plasmas, as proposed for use in ITER's initial non-nuclear operating phase. With H NBI, baseline scenario plasmas with an I/aB close to that for 15~MA operation on ITER, with $q_{95}\sim 3.2$ and $\beta_N\sim 1.8$ were operated. The confinement in these plasmas was substantially reduced as compared to equivalent D plasmas, requiring $\sim$8.6~MW versus 2.8~MW of NBI, respectively, to maintain the target $\beta_N$. Baseline scenario discharges were also successfully operated with varied levels of net torque input, using a mixture of co- and counter-NB, so as to investigate the effect of plasma rotation on confinement.