A Formally Verified Plasma Vertical Position Control Algorithm

May Wu, Jessie C. Rosenberg, Nathan Fulton

Abstract: Tokamak fusion reactors generate energy by using a magnetic control system to confine hot plasma in a toroidal chamber. In large reactors, incorrect implementation of plasma stabilization algorithms can result in significant physical damage to the reactor. This paper explains how a combination of formal verification and numerical simulation can be used to analyze the safety of a vertical stabilization algorithm of a tokamak fusion reactor.