Status of the RFX-mod2 device and upgrades by the NRRP funded project NEFERTARI

The upgrade of the RFX-mod device (R=2m, a=0.457m), dubbed RFX-mod2, is at present in its final stages of implementation. The main modification of RFX-mod2 consists in the removal of the Inconel vacuum vessel and in the modification of the copper shell to directly hold the first wall graphite tiles and of the stainless-steel support structure in order to ensure vacuum tightness. Such modifications are expected to reduce resonant magnetic perturbations and mitigate plasma wall interactions, due to the reduction of plasma-shell proximity from b/a = 1.11 to b/a=1.04 and to the decrease of the resistivity of the conducting shell surrounding the plasma [1]. The RFX-mod2 device aims at exploring a wide range of configurations: from the Reversed Field Pinch, with an optimized actively controlled boundary setting, to ultra-low q and to ohmic tokamak both with circular and shaped cross sections. The new boundary is equipped with arrays of magnetic and electrostatic sensors, aimed at diagnosing with increased spatial and temporal resolution the plasma magnetic structure and the plasma wall interaction, in all explored configurations. Within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, a substantial innovation of key technological plants and plasma diagnostic systems of the RFX-mod2 device is funded by the NEFERTARI (New Equipment for Fusion Experimental Research and Technological Advancement of the RFX Infrastructure) project. The project is performed by an enhanced network composed by all sites (Padova, Milano, Bari) of the CNR Institute ISTP, by of University of Padova and by University of Napoli. The implementation of the project aims at developing technological and scientific competencies not limited to the RFP as an alternative to the Tokamak and Stellarator for the future fusion reactor but also to contribute to the study of Tokamak physics supporting the Italian Divertor Test Tokamak DTT in view of ITER and DEMO.