MAST fusion reactor launched in Great Britain after deep reconstruction
After a deep reconstruction that lasted for seven long years, the UK has re-launched its thermonuclear reactor, called MAST (Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak), which is located in the Kalema Fusion Energy Center, and is now called MAST Upgrade.
Thermonuclear reactor and its main problems
For many decades now, scientists around the world have been striving to obtain a well-functioning fusion reactor. And the fact is that this type of energy has two clear advantages:
- The hydrogen used as fuel in such reactors is very cheap and readily available.
- During the reaction of thermonuclear fusion, an enormous amount of energy is released.
But the main snag lies in the fact that it is quite problematic to create conditions for a stable course of thermonuclear fusion. In order to overcome the electrical resistance of like charged particles and collide them (for obtaining new particles and releasing a huge amount of energy), the plasma is heated to extreme temperatures.
But the plasma tends to expand and thus cool down. So scientists have learned how to hold superheated plasma in one position due to especially powerful magnets.
Moreover, they (the magnets) are positioned in a special way to form a special magnetic field. Such reactors are called tokamak (Toroidal Chamber with Magnetic Coils).
Thermonuclear reactor in the UK and its features
The construction of the MAST reactor began in 1997, and by December 1999 it was ceremoniously put into operation. In this case, the created MAST reactor is implemented in the form of a spherical tokamak.
The difference of this type from classical tokamaks is that the magnetic coils are located in such a way that they form a plasma cloud very close in shape to a ball.
Also, this type of reactor is compared to an apple, from which the core is extracted.
According to the creators of this reactor, this design allows you to create much more stable plasma and still significantly reduce the induction value necessary for plasma confinement magnetic field.
So in MAST, about 8 meters of cubic plasma is held by a magnetic field of only 0.55 Tesla.
For comparison, in the Russian tokamak T-15 of the classic toroidal shape, the magnetic field has an induction of 3.6 Tesla. And in the spherical tokamak Globus-15 (Physico-Technical Institute named after A. F. Ioffe, St. Petersburg) the value of the magnetic induction is 0.4 Tesla.
What are the tasks of the MAST fusion reactor
Scientists from the UK, who have been waiting for the completion of the reconstruction of the thermonuclear reactor since 2013, have high hopes for it. After all, MAST can become an ultra-modern testing ground for testing new developments in the field of thermonuclear fusion.
So the first thing will be tested a unique part of the tokamak called the Super-X Divertor. The main task of the new part is to remove excess heat and unnecessary impurities from the plasma. Previous versions of this device required major overhaul after a couple of years of operation.
The new version of the device (in case of a successful test) will increase the service life by 10 times. Also, if the experiment is successfully completed, the scientists will return to the implementation of the ambitious STEP project. (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) on the construction of a full-fledged power plant, which should be built by 2040.