Status and objectives of tokamak systems for fusion research

This report had its beginnings at the Third International Symposium on Toroidal Plasma Confinement held in Garching/Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, March 26-30, 1973. The American scientists who attended this conference agreed to assist in preparing a summary of the status of the field. Since that time, the authors of this report have had the opportunity to incorporate progress reported at the VI European Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, held in Moscow, U.S.S.R., from July 29 to August 3, 1973. The report has been available previously only as U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Report WASH-1295 (1974). It was the first comprehensive survey of the status of the tokamak fusion research concept, which was to become the cornerstone of the world fusion effort far the next quarter century. It provided the basis for the rapid buildup of the U.S. tokamak program during the latter half of the 1970's and is published now to archive its historical significance.