Assessment of disruption and disruption-related physics basis for ITER

The physics basis for the characterization of disruptions and disruption-related effects-including halo currents, runaway electrons and fast plasma shutdown by impurity injection-in reactor-scale tokamaks and ITER is assessed, and the resulting implications for ITER design and operation are presented. Most aspects of the physics basis are sufficiently well understood to define specifications for ITER design and to provide a basis for the assessment of the service lifetime of at-risk components. Runaway electrons are the exception: further physics R&D and understanding are needed for definitive prediction of certain aspects of runaway electron effects caused by disruptions and fast plasma shutdown.