The ITER Provisional Research Plan (IRP) has been developed to provide a guide to the overall research activities which should be undertaken within the framework of the ITER Project. When complete, the IRP should encompass both physics and technology research during ITER construction and operation (though technology R&D associated with the procurement packages formally falls within the Project Plan and Resource Estimate, rather than the Research Plan).

The version just issued focuses on physics R&D and on the R&D and testing program of the (tritium breeding) Test Blanket Modules (TBM) adapted to the revised ITER project schedule developed during 2015 - 2016 within the Staged Approach.

This version of the Research Plan is a provisional version of the baseline documentation that has been developed in response to the complete revision of the ITER project schedule within the framework of the Staged Approach, undertaken in 2015 – 2016 and reflects the ITER project strategy as of December 2017. The Staged Approach foresees First Plasma in December 2025, which is succeeded by a progressive upgrade of the capabilities of the ITER tokamak and facility interleaved with two periods of system 'commissioning with plasma' and experimental plasma studies in H and He plasmas. Completion of construction activities is scheduled for early 2035 and the transition to experiments in D/DT plasmas is planned for December 2035, with trace tritium experiments likely in early 2036 and a gradual transition to fusion power production over the next 12 - 15 months of experimental studies, leading to an initial demonstration of several hundred megawatts of fusion power production for several tens of seconds. In subsequent experimental campaigns in Deuterium Tritium (DT) plasmas, planned on a two-yearly cycle, the experimental basis for achieving the principal scientific mission goals of the ITER project are developed: a demonstration of Q ≥ 10 for burn durations of 300 - 500 s and the development of long-pulse, noninductive scenarios aiming at maintaining Q ∼ 5 for periods of up to 3000 s.

The full 400 page report can be found at http://www.firefusionpower.org/ITER-Research-Plan_final_ITR_FINAL_Sep172018.pdf