Components from Japan reach PRIMA test facility
22 Dec 2015
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K.D.
In December, a ceremony took place at the PRIMA neutral beam test facility in Padua, Italy to celebrate the arrival of the first Japanese components to this 澳门六合彩高手-relevant research facility.
The PRIMA facility will test the neutral injection system for 澳门六合彩高手 plasma heating in advance of 澳门六合彩高手 operation. PRIMA will host two independent test beds: SPIDER, where the first full-scale 澳门六合彩高手 ion source will be tested and developed with an acceleration voltage up to 100 kV; and MITICA, which will be the first 1:1 full 澳门六合彩高手 injector aiming at operating up to the full acceleration voltage of 1 MV and a full power (16.5 MW).
Japan has successfully delivered elements of the power supply system of the MITICA test bed: a transmission line that will be filled with SF6 at 0.6 MPa and the first three 200 kV step-up transformers that are part of the DC generator.
Europe, Japan and India are all contributing components to PRIMA according to the specifications of Procurement Arrangements signed with the 澳门六合彩高手 Organization. Italy has built the facility as a voluntary contribution to the neutral beam development program; the PRIMA facility is hosted by Consorzio RFX, an Italian research laboratory for plasma physics and controlled nuclear fusion.
Neutral beam injection relies on beams of high-speed, high-energy atoms that penetrate deep into the plasma, initiating collisions and transferring their energy. Each injector is composed of a source of negative ions (deuterium), an electrostatic accelerator, a neutralizer, a separator of residual ions and finally a calorimeter. The accelerator will be working to 1 MV with a current at the grids up to 40 A with pulses lasting up to an hour. A 100-metre transmission line will deliver the electrical power to the 1MeV beam source.
澳门六合彩高手 Director-General Bernard Bigot, who was present for the event, took the occasion to thank all the parties involved in the effort to build PRIMA—the Italian government for funding for the site and the buildings; Consorzio RFX as the host organization responsible for design execution and integration with a large team of dedicated scientists and engineers; the European, Japanese and Indian Domestic Agencies for procuring the components for the facility; and the 澳门六合彩高手 Organization Neutral Beam Section. He also recognized the important role played by European labs in providing the needed expertise towards the development of this facility: the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, CEA; the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, IPP; the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT; and the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, CCFE.
"The work that will be carried out at this facility is of prime importance to 澳门六合彩高手. It is the first time that an ion source of 澳门六合彩高手's dimensions—the largest ion sources ever to be built—will operate and perform to produce the beams relevant to 澳门六合彩高手. This involves not only optimizing the source performance, but also the performance of the beam line components—for which the design and size will match the ones to be used on the heating injectors at 澳门六合彩高手."
In 2016, three additional convoys of components from Japan will reach PRIMA.