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Latest News
Zaporizhzhia ‘extremely fragile’ relying on single off-site power line, IAEA warns
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has just one remaining power line for essential nuclear safety and security functions, compared with its original 10 functional lines before the military conflict with Russia, warned Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
C. Neumeyer, NSTX Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 469-472
Alternate and Advanced Concepts | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963280
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The NSTX is a new US facility for the study of plasma confinement, heating, and current drive in a low aspect ratio, spherical torus (ST) configuration. The ST configuration is an alternate magnetic confinement concept which is characterized by high β (ratio plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure) and low toroidal field compared to conventional tokamaks, and could provide a pathway to the realization of a practical fusion power source. NSTX achieved first plasma in February 1999, and since that time has completed and commissioned all components and systems within the machine proper. Routine operation with inductively driven plasma current ≤ IMA and flat top ≤ 0.3 seconds has been established, and the ohmic characterization phase of the research program is underway. Radio Frequency (RF) and Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) systems have been installed and the first heating experiments are now underway. This paper describes the NSTX mission, gives an overview of the engineering design, and summarizes the research results obtained thus far.