22 June 2004

ITALY GETS UK FUSION RESEARCH MACHINE

The world's first high performance Spherical Tokamak, START, at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire is to make a new "start" in Italy. The Italian fusion research centre at Frascati near Rome will be START's new home as part of a project to find new ways to re-create the sun on earth.

START (Small Tight Aspect Ratio Tokamak) has a unique history. It was constructed at very low cost in 1990 out of spare parts and without any additional research funding from the government of the day, to test out a theory that results from the so-called "conventional" fusion research machines could be matched with a smaller and simpler design. It was adapted from another experimental rig that had operated at Culham in the 70s. To the uninitiated START may have looked as if it had been designed by

Members of the original and new START teams gather with the machine as it is prepared for despatch from Culham.

Heath Robinson, but it delivered the goods:it was the forerunner of the current generation of spherical tokamaks (STs) all over the world and achieved a world record into the bargain.

Alan Sykes (right) hands over
START to Stamos Papastergiou

Co-operation in fusion research has always been a key element of the pan-European programme and "recycling" START has resulted in a saving of some £70,000 and two years design work for the Italians. Former START Team Leader Alan Sykes said " We are very pleased that giving START to the Frascati team gives them a great boost to their ST research. We wish them well and look forward to a successful collaboration." Views reciprocated by the Director of ENEA Frascati, Maurizio Samuelli, expressing thanks for sending "this very important component that allows us an easier and faster assembly of our new experiment".

Painstaking preparation saw START craned out of its area in the laboratory to the loading bay, where it was then packed into a huge crate to be loaded onto the lorry that would take it to the Italian laboratory. Members of the old START Team were there to see the machine off on its three-day journey, together with some of the staff from the new START Team.

START is hoisted from its position to begin its transfer to a new home at ENEA Frascati

Stamos Papastergiou and Claudio Crescenzi from Frascati with Nigel Fawlk of Culham