Publications by Cassandre Ekta Contré

Fusion alpha power control optimisation using RAPTOR

The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) is a prototype fusion power plant planned to be operational in the 2040s. STEP's interaction with the national grid and its responsiveness to demand hinges largely on the effective control of the energy re ...

Elsevier BV2025

Model-based estimation of tokamak plasma profiles and physics parameters: algorithm overview and application to ITER

Olivier Sauter, Federico Alberto Alfredo Felici, Francesco Carpanese, Cassandre Ekta Contré, Reinart Andreas J. Coosemans, Francesco Pastore

Combining dynamic models and measurements into a consistent plasma state estimate is an important challenge for ITER and DEMO, due to the inherent limitations regarding diagnostic coverage in a nuclear fusion reactor environment. In this work, a model-base ...

2025

Inter-discharge optimization for fast, reliable access to ASDEX Upgrade advanced tokamak scenario

Olivier Sauter, Federico Alberto Alfredo Felici, Simon Van Mulders, Cassandre Ekta Contré, Hartmut Zohm

Rapid inter-discharge simulation and optimization using the RAPTOR code have allowed the development of a reliable and reproducible early heating strategy for an advanced tokamak (AT) scenario on ASDEX Upgrade. Solving for electron heat and current diffusi ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2024

Scenario optimization for the tokamak ramp-down phase in RAPTOR. Part B: safe termination of DEMO plasmas

Olivier Sauter, Federico Alberto Alfredo Felici, Simon Van Mulders, Cassandre Ekta Contré, Emiliano Fable, Anna Teplukhina

An optimized plasma current ramp-down strategy is critical for safe and fast termination of plasma discharges in a tokamak demonstration fusion reactor (DEMO), both in planned and emergency scenarios, avoiding plasma disruptions and excessive heat loads to ...

Iop Publishing Ltd2024

Scenario optimization for the tokamak ramp-down phase in RAPTOR: A. Analysis and model validation on ASDEX Upgrade

Olivier Sauter, Federico Alberto Alfredo Felici, Simon Van Mulders, Cassandre Ekta Contré, Anna Teplukhina, Bernhard Sieglin

We discuss how the combination of experimental observations and rapid modeling has enabled to improve understanding of the tokamak ramp-down phase in ASDEX Upgrade. A series of dedicated experiments has been performed, to disentangle the effect of individu ...

Iop Publishing Ltd2024

Progress in the development of the ITER baseline scenario in TCV

Olivier Sauter, Stefano Coda, Benoît Labit, Alessandro Pau, Alexander Karpushov, Antoine Pierre Emmanuel Alexis Merle, Oleg Krutkin, Cassandre Ekta Contré, Reinart Andreas J. Coosemans, Yann Camenen

Under the auspices of EUROfusion, the ITER baseline (IBL) scenario has been jointly investigated on AUG and TCV in the past years and this paper reports on the developments on TCV. It is found that the performance of TCV IBL is mainly limited by (neoclassi ...

2024

Experimental research on the TCV tokamak

Olivier Sauter, Ambrogio Fasoli, Stefano Coda, Timothy Goodman, Yves Martin, Stefano Alberti, Ivo Furno, Duccio Testa, Patrick Blanchard, Holger Reimerdes

Tokamak à configuration variable (TCV), recently celebrating 30 years of near-continual operation, continues in its missions to advance outstanding key physics and operational scenario issues for ITER and the design of future power plants such as DEMO. The ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2024

Overview of the EUROfusion Tokamak Exploitation programme in support of ITER and DEMO

Olivier Sauter, Basil Duval, Stefano Coda, Timothy Goodman, Jean-Marc Moret, Duccio Testa, Patrick Blanchard, Holger Reimerdes, Benoît Labit, Christian Gabriel Theiler

Within the 9th European Framework programme, since 2021 EUROfusion is operating five tokamaks under the auspices of a single Task Force called ‘Tokamak Exploitation’. The goal is to benefit from the complementary capabilities of each machine in a coordinat ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2024

Overview of T and D-T results in JET with ITER-like wall

Olivier Sauter, Duccio Testa, Holger Reimerdes, Benoît Labit, Alessandro Pau, Cristian Sommariva, Umar Sheikh, Cassandre Ekta Contré, Mackenzie Peter-Fulford Van Rossem, Olivier Claude Martin Février

In 2021 JET exploited its unique capabilities to operate with T and D-T fuel with an ITER-like Be/W wall (JET-ILW). This second major JET D-T campaign (DTE2), after DTE1 in 1997, represented the culmination of a series of JET enhancements-new fusion diagno ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2024