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The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has announced the completion of the fifth experimental campaign on MAST Upgrade, the world’s largest operating spherical tokamak. Notable campaign results included achieving its highest-pressure plasma to date and overcoming plasma instability issues through innovative plasma control and heat-exhaust methods. These results will inform the design and operation of both ITER and STEP, the UK’s prototype fusion power plant project.
The experiments suppressed ELMs—bursts of energy released at the plasma edge that can cause a loss of pressure and deposit extreme thermal loads on plasma-facing components—to record the highest pressure ever stably achieved in the machine.
The MAST Upgrade team also developed a novel plasma control technique wherein they determined the plasma’s position by measuring visible light produced by deuterium leaving the upper and lower outer divertors. This is important progress for the automated, real-time control systems that future power plants will need for operations.
“The results genuinely shape the design of future fusion power plants,” said James Harrison, Head of MAST Upgrade Science at UKAEA. “Accessing four stable high-performance plasma regimes, including QH-mode, QCE and I-mode and our world-first plasma position control technique, demonstrates that MAST Upgrade is producing science at the leading edge of what is possible.”
Experiments will now pause as MAST Upgrade undergoes further enhancements, including the installation of two new neutral beam injectors and an electron Bernstein wave (EBW) system like the one planned for STEP. A sixth series of experiments focused on STEP-relevant research is planned for 2028.
For more information about MAST Upgrade’s fifth campaign, see the article and video published by the UKAEA.
To create fusion, you need a very different world to the one we live in. It needs to be six orders of magnitude hotter and six orders of…
Six orders of magnitude
To create fusion, you need a very different world to the one we live in. It needs to be six orders of magnitude hotter and six orders of magnitude less dense — and the result is six orders of magnitude more energy than most everyday processes. The EFDA web site has the whole story here...
