Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Tokamak Fontenay-aux-Roses Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor... 

The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratoi y produces fusion. 

Fusion has already been achieved in several devices, but not beyond the break-even point, where the amount of energy produced is the same as the amount consumed. Much basic research is still required and is the focus of a number of international collaborative efforts. As discussed in Chapter 4, foremost among these efforts is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which will be a scale-up of the Princeton Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor shown in Figure 19.17. 

The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor was the first fusion facility with extensive experience with tritium fuelling and removal. During the 3.5 years of D-T operation, 3.1 g T was supplied to the plasma by neutral beam injection and... 

C.H. Skinner, W. Blanchard, J.N. Brooks et al., Tritium experience in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor, Proc. 20th Symp. on Fusion Technology, Marseille, Sept. 1-11, 1998, Vol. 1, p. 153... 

Despite great strides, the problems arising from plasma-material interactions (PMIs), together with the selection of plasma facing materials, still represent major challenges for the reliable and safe operation of a D-T next-step tokamak [1]. They also remain potential obstacles for the successful development of future fusion power reactors. These issues came into sharp focus during D-T operation of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) and the Joint European Torus (JET) and, in particular, in the process of designing ITER. 

This first experiment with tritium was followed on 9 December 1993 by an experiment with up to 50 per cent tritium at the Plasma Physics Laboratory of Princeton (USA) which produced power of 5-28 MW with the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) machine. 

Figure 21.21 A drawing of the tokamak fusion test reactor. A tokamak is essentially a magnetic "bottle" for confining and heating nuclei in an effort to cause them to fuse. 

The plasma in a fusion reactor must not touch the walls of its vacuum vessel, which would he vaporized. In the Tokamak fusion test reactor, the plasma is contained within a magnetic field shaped like a doughnut. The magnetic field is generated hy D-shaped coils around the vacuum vessel. 

The plasma must also have a high density for a sufficient time to permit the fusion reaction to occur. Laser heating of frozen deuterium-tritium pellets confined in a magnetic field is a method that has been tested. The neutrons formed react with lithium in an outer mantle, a reaction in which new tritium is formed. This reactor type is called Tokamak and is used in research projects in the USA and England. Similar reactors are used in France, Russia and Japan. 

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