Physics Today: The Department of Energy announced today that the Princeton University-based National Compact Stellarator Experiment has been canceled. The news was delivered in person by Raymond Fonck, DOE associate director for fusion energy sciences.
"In late 2006, it became clear that the NCSX construction project
would not be able to meet its approved baseline total project cost of
$102M or its completion date of July 2009," said Undersecretary for
Science Raymond Orbach in a statement.
Since then the DOE, Princeton University, and thePrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory
have been reviewing options for the project and PPPL. They concluded
that "the budget increases, schedule delays and continuing
uncertainties of the NCSX construction project necessitate its
closure," said Orbach. The new proposed cost for NCSX was $170 million
and its new start date was August 2013, which would have put research
at PPPL in peril, said an April 2008 Office of Science report.
"PPPL's future as a world-leading center of fusion energy and plasma
sciences is more assured by a renewed focus on the successful Spherical
Torus confinement concept," added Orbach. Under the existing
construction proposal for NCSX, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) would have had to close, which would have had implications for US involvement in the ITER fusion project.
"The Spherical Torus is closely related to the [ITER] tokamak, and
experiments planned for the next several years in the NSTX facility
promise many exciting discoveries that should directly impact our
ability to understand the new plasma regimes expected in ITER," says
Orbach. "Proposed upgrades for [NSTX] can keep this facility at the
forefront of fusion science research... well into the future."
Source: Stellarator Experiment Canceled
