Onto KSTAR and into EAST
21 Apr 2008
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Sabina Griffith
The last week of March, the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Vacuum and Cryogenics Groups visited the two new "babies" of the international tokamak familiy, EAST in Hefei, China, and KSTAR in Daejeon, Korea. While EAST celebrated its first plasma in September 2006 and is currently installing an actively-cooled first wall, KSTAR is in its commissioning phase and expects first plasma to happen in June this year.
Although both machines are much smaller than °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ, they do have many similarities in regards to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ vacuum and cryogenic systems, Robert Pearce, Leader of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Vacuum Group summarized the visits. "The overall impression of the design and installations and the people's competencies very very positive," he said.