Spherical Torus May Improve Tokamak Cost and Performance

After the tokamak approach became fashionable three decades ago, other approaches to magnetic fusion were left withering on the vine or cut off at the roots. In the last few years, however, US participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (still being pursued by Europe, Japan, and Russia) has been cancelled, and Department of Energy funding for magnetic fusion suffered a major reduction. “The cost of developing tokamak‐based fusion systems may be too expensive,” according to Rob Goldston, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Fusion scientists both in the US and abroad have once again begun to explore the potential of other concepts. They have revived some old ideas and developed some new ideas, which build on the progress gained from tokamak studies.