The determination of the minimum electro-mechanical parameters required for a tokamak to achieve ignition in a D-T plasma is still the central unresolved issue in fusion plasma research and is a major consideration in the development of an attractive tokamak fusion system. Nearly all the critical burning plasma physics information could be provided by a near-ignition (Q ~ 10) burning plasma with a moderate pulse-length (~ 10 energy confinement times). This paper reviews some possibilities (including BPX-AT and Ignitor-AT) for achieving near-ignition conditions using advanced tokamak operating regimes in optimized copper coil magnets with pulse lengths > 10 t_E. Engineering innovations will be presented that offer the possibility of near-ignition tokamaks with a capital cost significantly less than $1B. The plasma conditions required to achieve "core ignition" in TFTR/JET scale burning plasmas using extensions of existing advanced operating regimes will also be discussed.

*Work supported by U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-76-CHO3073.