Quench-Abort Orchestration

A magnet quench is the highest-priority breeder event; orchestration coordinates a fast, safe, pre-authorized shutdown that preempts all else.

L4 · Orchestration — its place in the stack (left, click any layer) and its internal components (right). Telemetry rises; control descends.

Quench is a P0 event

In the breeder's high-field superconducting magnet system (design peak 16.84 T), a quench, the loss of superconductivity, must be handled immediately to protect the coils. Quench abort is a P0 priority that preempts any running procedure through the scheduler and executes a pre-authorized safe-state sequence using an emergency token so it is never blocked.

The abort sequence

text

>>> QUENCH DETECTED (L1 hardware detection, fastest path)
L1 fires hardware protection immediately (energy dump) -- does NOT wait on L4
L4 in parallel:
  1. preempt running procedure -> SAFE_ABORT
  2. rate-limited de-energize of unaffected coils
  3. controlled plasma termination (coordinate with disruption path)
  4. sequence pumping/fuelling to safe standby
  5. lock machine in RECOVERY pending human clearance

Hardware first, orchestration second

The primary quench protection is a hardware interlock and energy-dump on L1, which acts in real time without waiting for the event plane; see interlock integration. Orchestration's role is to bring the rest of the machine (plasma, fuelling, adjacent coils) to a coordinated safe state and to journal the whole event, not to be the fast protective reflex. Depending on the event plane for quench protection would be a design error.

Coordination with disruption

A quench during a shot usually forces a controlled plasma termination, coordinated with the disruption-mitigation workflow.
Compensations from the running saga run in reverse to leave a clean state.
The machine will not re-arm until a human clears RECOVERY (a mandatory approval gate).

Validated in simulation

Because the breeder is a design-and-simulation study today, quench-abort orchestration is exercised entirely against the twin and fault-injection scenarios, so the coordination, preemption, and lineage are proven long before FOAK. Every quench event is fully replayable for analysis.