Launch of National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade at Princeton

NSTX exterior.

Last Friday, 20 May 2016, was a historic day at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).  It was a day that the $94-million upgrade to National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX-U), which took almost four years to build, was officially launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz.

Funded by the DOE Office of Science, NSTX-U addresses how to create fusion, the process that powers the Sun, on Earth, in a device based on the spherical tokamak concept.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is a Nuclear Physicist and Secretary since May 2013.

The vastly expanded capabilities of this spherical tokamak will enable us to explore new physics regimes and tackle the major engineering problems for fusion energy,” said the Secretary.

The fusion community receives with arms wide open the trust and enthusiasm from all spheres of society, since High School students until Heads of State.

This is exciting new territory, and we’re thrilled to embark on the next frontier of fusion research. This device could transform the world by showing us the way to a pilot plant design for the generation of power from fusion energy for use by all,” concluded Stewart Prager, director of PPPL.

More information can be found here.

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