The status of superconducting magnet safety research

The superconducting magnet set for a fusion reactor may store in excess of 100 GJ which must be controlled and, if necessary, safely dissipated under electrical fault conditions. While the radioactive inventory of the magnet set and its support equipment is small, the stored energy and potential off-normal forces between the coils have the capability for damaging systems which do contain large radioactive inventories. During the past eight years, a coordinated series of codes, analyses, experiments, and accident investigations have been carried out in the US and Europe with the goals of understanding the accident processes in magnets and developing criteria for safe magnet design. Several codes have been developed and are discussed. In addition, preliminary analyses have been carried out on some large-scale magnet systems to determine likely fault locations and scenarios for the purpose of developing a methodology for risk assessment