News & Notes: PPPL begins upgrade of fusion facility

The $94 million overhaul was approved six months ahead of schedule, and construction was slated by the DOE to begin immediately.

Through the experiment, PPPL — which is managed by the University for the DOE’s Office of Science — said it aims to determine from a physics perspective whether or not nuclear fusion would be an adequate fuel source for electricity generation.

Construction and renovation of the facility — which is called the National Spherical Torus Experiment and is the laboratory’s premiere test facility — will take place over the next 30 months and aims to provide the PPPL with a more powerful tool to develop nuclear fusion as a fuel.

“We’re building something that’s one of a kind, that hasn’t been built before,” said Michael Williams, associate director for engineering and infrastructure at PPPL.

Fusion — the process by which two atomic nuclei collide and release huge amounts of energy — has the potential to be a clean and efficient energy source. However, fusion researchers have not yet developed an effective means of controlling the plasma leaks that prevent the reaction from being sustained in a laboratory. This control is the principal goal of current fusion research.