Engineering Operations Outage Status: Tile cleaning is complete Tentatively planning on 2 LITER operation. Design Review upcoming Shielding of HHFW/in-vessel components in progress OH bus lead upgrades to reduce error fields The NBI group will replace all three ion sources and the TIV this outage New bake-out system controls for NB conditioning during the vessel bake Multi-stage firing controls will be added to the CHI Cap Bank Diagnostic ground (Class 2) upgrade and add’l class 4 power circuits. In-vessel measurements for a liquid Lithium Divertor next year Materials shipped to ASIPP to fabricate the new OH coil

Engineering Operations Outage Schedule: In-vessel construction activities will continue until mid-October before starting ~ 1 month of diagnostic calibrations for the upcoming run. The NB duct will be re-installed on November 20th for a late November pump-down and leak check. Twelve days of bake-out will be performed in early December. NB ion source conditioning will go on in parallel with the bake. Cooldown, leak checking, and add’l time for diagnostic calibrations will follow with plans to start the ISTP in the early part of January. Plasma operations is expected in the second half of January. An early start this year will give us the add’l time needed next year to install the new OH coil, and possibly to implement a liquid lithium divertor.

NSTX Run Assessment Program Coordination: To help in the performance of XP’s, it was suggested that a Physics Operator be involved in the design of an XP, and that the details of shot development are addressed in the proposal. Writers of XP’s should be encouraged to utilize “canned” shots, and to provide a path forward based on the ability to achieve certain conditions during shot development. Session leaders need some mechanism to better understand the current status of diagnostic availability. A suggestion was made to have a publication assessment to help evaluate XP’s (and run time allocation) based on publications, including Engineering-Technical. The appointment of an Executive Committee for the Research Forum was suggested to help track run time allocations from year-to-year, and make sure that some proposals do not get repeatedly passed over. A mid-run assessment should be performed to look at run time allocation, and we need to consider allocating time to interesting XP’s with scientific risk that are not in direct support of a declared milestone. Consider whether the ET structure should be task or topical oriented.

NSTX Run Assessment Collaborations: Training expiration notices/status should be sent to employees and collaborators. Strive to make training materials including tests more accessible for visitors. In the area of communications, need to be notified regarding any work that may impact their equipment. Consider adding notifications on Work Permits. The NSTX web Page needs an update. An XP should be available on the website by day it is run, and a Calendar/Schedule should be maintained and include machine/diagnostic status and run plans. Also, feedback from management on collaborator involvement would be appreciated.

NSTX Run Assessment Run Staffing/Equipment: Critical diagnostics have minimal staffing (MPTS, CHERS, etc) and need backup support (Consider a Post-Doc). A three week run/one week maintenance is helpful for many, and five straight weeks of run is a hardship. The idea of a four day run week was suggested. Regarding equipment, the need for additional DC current feedback devices for our power systems was brought up, as well as the need to address the humidity problems in the MPTS polychromator/Laser rooms and the D-Site gallery. The cleaning of the lower divertor tiles was suggested, and the request was made to further review the amount of water and oxygen introduced during the bakeout and operations of LITER. A suggestion was also made that cleaning of the lower divertor tiles could be accomplished by producing a high injector current CHI discharge, without pulling the CHI plasma up into the vessel. Also suggested were modifications to the CHI system to select/stagger the firing of the cap bank segments, and the powering of the CHI absorber coils via the SPA supplies.