FPN10-68

Russian Tokamak T-15 to be Restarted

December 30, 2010

Tokamak T-15 at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow made first plasma in 1988 and was shut down in 1995. It was the first tokamak to use superconducting niobium-tin conductors and its 24 toroidal superconducting magnet coils are still the largest in the world. An upgrade is now in progress, labeled T-15 MD (for "modified divertor") with the aim of restarting the device in 2014. Englen Azizov, director of the Moscow Institute of Tokamak Physics and Oleg Filatov, director of the Efremov Institute in St. Petersburg indicate that the device will add to the list of "ITER-complimentary machines" and also explore the physics needed for a fusion-fission hybrid reactor.

For further information, contact: azizov@triniti.ru