UK's MAST Upgrade Fusion Device Completes Installation of 12-Tonne Dual Beam Box

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 3, the UK Atomic Energy Authority announced the latest upgrade progress of the MAST Upgrade spherical tokamak fusion experimental device. The engineering team has completed the lifting and positioning of a 12-tonne dual beam box at the Culham Campus in Oxfordshire. The equipment adopts a double-layer structure and can accommodate two newly added neutral beam injectors. After the upgrade is completed, the device's neutral beam heating power is expected to increase from 4.4 MW to 8.8 MW, and the related scientific experiments are planned to start in 2028.

The dual beam box installed this time is made of 316L stainless steel, with a volume of 20 cubic meters. After the box body and top cover are fully assembled, the total weight is expected to be approximately 15 tonnes. The equipment adopts a vacuum-sealed structure, and neutral beam injectors and supporting vacuum systems will be installed inside, providing operating conditions for subsequent high-energy particle beam injection and plasma heating tests.

With the addition of two neutral beam injectors, the design value of MAST Upgrade's neutral beam heating power will double. The UK Atomic Energy Authority expects that the device's plasma temperature can increase from the current approximately 30 million degrees Celsius to 60 million degrees Celsius. Subsequent experiments will focus on measuring plasma stability under higher pressure conditions and testing the operating performance of the device's exhaust system in higher-temperature and higher-performance plasma environments.

The lifting of the dual beam box is being carried out in parallel with other engineering upgrades of MAST Upgrade. The UK Atomic Energy Authority is installing an electron Bernstein wave microwave heating system and transferring some power supply equipment from the Joint European Torus (JET) to MAST Upgrade for reconfiguration and use. Equipment upgrades also include the manufacture and installation of neutral beam transmission modules, the manufacture of cryopumps used to control the internal pressure of the dual beam box, and the installation of positive ion neutral beam injectors.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority plans to complete the manufacture and installation of the main internal hardware of the dual beam box by the end of autumn 2027, then carry out commissioning of the vacuum sealing system, and start scientific experiments using the upgraded equipment in 2028. The relevant experimental data will be used for research on plasma stability and exhaust systems for the UK's STEP prototype fusion power plant.