COMPASS

Name: COMPASS – Tokamak for Thermonuclear Fusion Research

Institution: Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Coordinator: RNDr. Radomír Pánek, Ph.D.; panek@ipp.cas.cz

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The COMPASS research infrastructure consists of tokamak and its auxiliary systems. It represents one of the key facilities in the joint European effort to master thermonuclear fusion as an energy source within the EUROfusion consortium (European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy). COMPASS operates in a divertor plasma configuration with a plasma cross-section similar to the ITER tokamak (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which is currently under construction in France. Such a combination of features together with the relevant plasma parameters allows COMPASS to address the key challenges of ITER construction as well as its future exploitation, which are one of the key missions of the main EUROfusion consortium document – European Research Roadmap to the Realisation of Fusion Energy. COMPASS provides open access for a wide user community and enhances education in the field of high‑temperature magnetized plasma physics. Furthermore, COMPASS provides expertise in the development of plasma control and data acquisition systems and the development of advanced diagnostics edge plasma physics, as well as in several aspects of tokamak construction. It has established extensive collaboration with Czech and world-leading research organisations and universities. On the European level, COMPASS is being used mainly within the EUROfusion consortium and the ITER Organisation.