COMPASS tokamak
COMPASS tokamak vacuum chamber | |
| Device type | Tokamak |
|---|---|
| Location | Prague, Czech Republic |
| Affiliation | Czech Academy of Sciences |
| Technical specifications | |
| Major radius | 0.56 m (1 ft 10 in) |
| Minor radius | 0.23 m (9.1 in) |
| Magnetic field | 0.9–2.1 T (9,000–21,000 G) |
| Heating power | 2 × 0.3 MW |
| Discharge duration | 0.5 s (pulsed) |
| Plasma current | 360 kA |
| History | |
| Year(s) of operation | 1992–2002 (in UK) 2006–2021 (in CZ) |
| Links | |
| Website | COMPASS Tokamak |
| Other links | |
COMPASS, short for Compact Assembly, is a compact tokamak fusion energy device originally completed at the Culham Science Centre in 1989, upgraded in 1992, and operated until 2002. It was designed as a flexible research facility dedicated mostly to plasma physics studies in circular and D-shaped plasmas.
When it was decommissioned at Culham, it was offered to the European Commission and found a new home at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague where it began operations once again in 2006. It officially ended its experimental runs on 20 August 2021 and was disassembled to leave room for a new device, COMPASS-U.