The 31st Broader Approach Steering Committee (BASC#31) was held on the 11th of May 2023 at the QST Rokkasho Fusion Institute. Many members and invited participants of the BASC#31 attended this meeting in person. It gave them the possibility to visit the accelerator facility, its associated control rooms, and the clean room facility for the LIPAc SRF Linac assembly.
The organisation of the BASC#31 in Rokkasho provided the opportunity to highlight the progress of the IFMIF/EVEDA project. The latest achievements with respect to both LIPAc and Fusion Neutron Source Design activities were presented by the Project Leader. Regarding the LIPAc project, the start of the injector Continuous Wave campaign in order to identify the best plasma electrode, the repair of the circulator and its delivery onsite, and the improvement of the RFQ couplers thermal behaviour with new inner conductors enabled to propose a new schedule to resume beam operation in a timely manner. As for the Fusion Neutron Source activities, the progress of both experimental and simulation works was pointed out on the Lithium Facility and on the Engineering Design.
Once the phase B+ is completed (high duty cycle 125-mA deuteron beam at 5 MeV), beam operation will be interrupted for a long period to proceed with the SRF Linac installation. This last equipment will enable to reach 9 MeV at high duty cycle. Meanwhile, the improvement of the maintenance and the enhancements of the injector, RFPS and Control System aim to increase the availability of the LIPAc in the future operation campaigns.
