PPPL – PPPL-led researchers seek to demonstrate a novel design for a key diagnostic tool for ITER
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory – PPPL-led researchers seek to demonstrate a novel design for a key diagnostic tool for ITER
By John Greenwald | 13 April 2012
Scientists working under the leadership of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed and are preparing to test a novel design for a key diagnostic instrument for ITER, a $20 billion experimental fusion facility, or tokamak, that represents the next major step in harnessing fusion power. If proven successful, the design could replace the more conventional, bulkier instrument now planned for ITER.
The new diagnostic design marks a nationwide effort by U.S. researchers in support of U.S. contributions to ITER (whose name is Latin for “the way”), which is under construction in the south of France by the European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States. Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) developed the prototype instrument, which is being tested on the DIII-D tokamak operated by General Atomics in San Diego for DOE. “This is a good example of U.S. fusion experts working together to support the conceptual design,” said PPPL physicist Dave Johnson, who heads the development of the diagnostic tools that the U.S. will deliver to ITER.
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