- EAST
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST, internal designation HT-7U) is an experimental
superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor inHefei , the capital city ofAnhui Province , in easternChina . The experiment is being conducted by the Hefei-basedInstitute of Plasma Physics under theChinese Academy of Sciences . The project was proposed in 1996 and approved in 1998. According to a 2003 schedule, [ http://202.127.205.62/IAC/disk/Design%20of%20the%20EAST(HT-7U)Project/6.doc] buildings and site facilities were to be constructed by 2003, and tokamak assembly to take place from 2003 through 2005.Construction was completed in March 2006 and on
September 28 ,2006 , "first plasma" was achieved. In February 2007 the reactor sustained an electrical current of 250 kA for five seconds. [http://www.lacronica.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/CienciayTecnologia/01032007/224657.aspx]The reactor is an improvement over China's first superconducting tokamak device, dubbed
HT-7 , also built by the Institute of Plasma Physics in partnership withRussia in the early 1990s.According to official reports, the project's budget is a relatively small CNY ¥300 million (approx. USD $37 million), some 1/15 to 1/20 the cost of a comparable reactor built in other countries. [cite news|url=http://english.people.com.cn/200601/21/eng20060121_237208.html|title=China to build world's first "artificial sun" experimental device
publisher=People's Daily Online|date=2006-01-21 ]Physics objectives
China is a member of the
ITER consortium, and EAST will be a testbed for technologies proposed for the ITER project.EAST will test:
*Superconducting NbTi poloidal fieldmagnets , making it the first tokamak with superconducting toroidal and poloidal magnets
*Non-inductive current drive
*Pulses of up to 1000 seconds with 0.5 MA plasma current
*Schemes for controlling plasma instabilities through real-time diagnostics
*Materials for divertors and plasma facing components
*Operation with "β"N = 2 and "H"89 > 2Tokamak parameters
References
External links
* [http://www.ipp.ac.cn/ENGLISH/research/EASTmain.htm Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Plasma Physics - EAST]
* [http://english.people.com.cn/200601/21/eng20060121_237208.html People's Daily article]
* [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/02/content_4247782.htm Xinhua article Mar 1 2006] - Note that EAST is obviously not the "world's first experimental nuclear fusion device".
* [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/24/content_4341563.htm Xinhua article Mar 24, 2006 Nuke fusion reactor completes test]
* [http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/asia/news/20060602p2g00m0in032000c.html Mainichi Daily News article Jun 2, 2006]
* [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/15/content_5608276.htm Xinhua article Jan 15, 2007 Chinese scientists conduct more tests on thermonuclear fusion reactor]
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