Predicting the behaviour of magnetic reconnection processes in fusion burning plasma experiments

Critical stability issues involving magnetic reconnection that are likely to influence the successful operation of burning plasma experiments are addressed. In particular, we discuss: (1) the stabilization of drift-tearing modes in weakly collisional regimes, with particular reference to nonlinear stability, including neo-classical effects; (2) the present understanding of sawtooth oscillations, in particular the interpretation of peculiar sawtooth features in FTU experiments with pellet injection; (3) reconnection near the X-points of magnetic separatrices.