EAST

This article is about the thermonuclear reactor. For the cardinal direction, see East. For other uses, see East (disambiguation).

EAST

File:EAST Reactor Photo.jpg
Type	Tokamak
Operation date	2006–
Major radius	1.85 m
Minor Radius	0.45 m
Magnetic field	3.5 T
Heating	7.5 MW
Plasma current	1.0 MA
Location	Hefei, China

EAST
Chinese	先进超导托卡马克实验装置
Hanyu Pinyin	xiānjìn chāodǎo tuōkǎmǎkè shíyàn zhuāngzhì
Literal meaning	Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin xiānjìn chāodǎo tuōkǎmǎkè shíyàn zhuāngzhì

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST, internal designation HT-7U) is an experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province, in eastern China. The experiment is being conducted by the Hefei-based Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has operated since 2006.

It is the first tokamak with superconducting toroidal and poloidal magnets, and it aims for plasma pulses of up to 1000 seconds.

History

The project was proposed in 1996 and approved in 1998. According to a 2003 schedule, buildings and site facilities were to be constructed by 2003, and tokamak assembly to take place from 2003 through 2005.

Construction was completed in March 2006 and on September 28, 2006, "first plasma" was achieved.

The reactor is an improvement over China's first superconducting tokamak device, dubbed HT-7, also built by the Institute of Plasma Physics in partnership with Russia in the early 1990s.

According to official reports, the project's budget is a relatively small CNY ¥300 million (approx. USD $37 million), some 1/15 to 1/20 the cost of a comparable reactor built in other countries.

Operations - results

On September 28, 2006, "first plasma" was achieved.

In February 2007 the reactor sustained an electrical current of 250 kA for five seconds.

Physics objectives

File:EAST超导托卡马克实验装置结构示意图.JPG

Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

China is a member of the ITER consortium, and EAST will be a testbed for technologies proposed for the ITER project.

EAST will test:

• Superconducting Niobium-titanium poloidal field magnets, making it the first tokamak with superconducting toroidal and poloidal magnets
• Non-inductive current drive
• Pulses of up to 1000 seconds with 0.5 MA plasma current
• Schemes for controlling plasma instabilities through real-time diagnostics
• Materials for divertors and plasma facing components
• Operation with β_N = 2 and confinement factor H₈₉ > 2

Tokamak parameters

Toroidal field, Bt	3.5 T
Plasma current, IP	1.0 MA
Major radius, R0	1.85 m
Minor radius, a	0.45 m
Aspect ratio, R/a	4.11
Elongation, κ	1.6–2
Triangularity, δ	0.6–0.8
Ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH)	3 MW
Lower hybrid current drive (LHCD)	4 MW
Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH)	None currently (0.5 MW planned)
Neutral beam injection (NBI)	None currently (planned)
Pulse length	1–1000 s
Configuration	Double-null divertor Pump limiter Single null divertor

External links

• Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Plasma Physics - EAST
• People's Daily article
• Xinhua article Mar 1 2006 - Note that EAST is not the "world's first experimental nuclear fusion device".
• Xinhua article Mar 24, 2006 Nuke fusion reactor completes test
• Mainichi Daily News article Jun 2, 2006
• Xinhua article Jan 15, 2007 Chinese scientists conduct more tests on thermonuclear fusion reactor