"Scientists at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) claim they have taken a significant step toward making fusion energy possible by applying a 3D magnetic field to counteract instabilities in a spherical tokamak plasma for the first time. Working on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) Upgrade experiment at Culham in Oxfordshire, the UKAEA researchers used magnetic coils to apply the 3D magnetic field and stabilize the plasma."
"In a fusion reaction, energy is produced by forcing light atomic nuclei, such as hydrogen, to fuse together to form heavier particles. Some of their mass is lost in the process, converted into a large amount of energy. To achieve this, the fuel needs to be confined at very high temperature within the tokamak to create a plasma, and this is difficult to control. If it becomes unstable, it can reduce performance or even damage the tokamak itself."
UK Atomic Energy Authority scientists applied a 3D resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) to a spherical tokamak plasma on the MAST Upgrade at Culham, using magnetic coils to stabilize the plasma. The technique fully suppressed edge localized modes (ELMs) at the plasma edge, removing instabilities that can erode or damage internal components. Fusion reactions produce large amounts of energy by fusing light atomic nuclei, but require high-temperature plasma confinement that is difficult to control. Adapting advanced control methods from conventional tokamaks to compact spherical configurations advances the scientific basis for future power plants such as STEP.
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