The U.S. Department of energy to close one of two powerful fusion reactors in the country.
“The leadership of the Princeton plasma physics laboratory is a wonderful experience. But, breaking the seven-year mark, I started to think about how to move to a new stage of life, ” said Prager. Recent technical regress at the facility NSTX-U unexpectedly and suddenly determined the point, which I think is appropriate for this transition.”
Prager led the laboratory since 2008 and after retirement will continue his work as a researcher. A physicist has officially resigned, but according to reports, this decision prompted his superiors, representing US Department of energy.
Issues in NSTX-U is associated with a failure after 10 weeks of work of one of the 14 magnets. Replacement coil, and a magnet located on the opposite the installation will take a year. During this time NSTX-U will stall. The cause of the trouble with magnets is unofficially considered too rigid copper winding of the coil.
Also the closure was subjected to laboratory Alcator C-Mod at mit, who has worked for over 20 years. Currently in the US there is only one powerful current installation for fusion research, administered by defense contractor General Atomics in San Diego.
Experiment NSTX-U were built on the basis established in 1999, the NSTX installation, modernization which cost $ 94 million. Currently installing is the world’s most powerful spherical tokamak (toroidal chamber with magnetic coils) with the magnetic induction of 1 Tesla and a heat capacity of 10-12 MW.
Inside the tokamak needs to occur in a controlled thermonuclear reaction of the synthesis (formation) of heavy elements from lighter ones (for example, helium from hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium). Inside the reactor the plasma is held by magnetic field, having the form of a toroidal cord, by which an electrical current is passed.
