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India’s PFBR attains criticality at last
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed it “a proud moment for India” when on April 6 the 500-MWe, sodium-cooled Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) achieved initial criticality. This milestone, which comes some 22 years after the continually delayed PFBR project began, marks India’s entrance into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear program, which has the ultimate goal of supporting the country’s nuclear power program with its significant thorium reserves.
T. Kariya, R. Minami, T. Imai, T. Kato, H. Idei, K. Hanada, H. Zushi, T. Numakura, Y. Endo, M. Ichimura
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 1 | July 2015 | Pages 147-151
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems 2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-848
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At the Plasma Research Center at University of Tsukuba, development of megawatt gyrotrons is being performed as a collaborative electron cyclotron heating (ECH) study with some research organizations. A 28 GHz 1 MW 1 s gyrotron has been developed to upgrade the GAMMA 10/PDX ECH systems. To improve the oscillation efficiency in high current regions, the magnetron injection gun (MIG) of the 28 GHz gyrotron has been modified. Output power of 1.25 MW has been achieved with this gyrotron. For the first step of the collaborative research between Tsukuba University and Kyushu University, the Tsukuba 28 GHz gyrotron was adapted to the Q-shu University Experiment with Steady-State Spherical Tokamak (QUEST) ECH system, and the plasma heating and current drive effect were demonstrated. We obtained successful results, including an electron cyclotron–driven plasma current of 66 kA in the QUEST plasma experiment. For the next step of the collaborative research, the design targets of a 2 MW 3 s and 0.4 MW continuous wave have been achieved in a design study of a new 28 GHz gyrotron.