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Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor
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Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

reactor, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Also known as: TFTR
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The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) was a significant experimental device located at Princeton University in New Jersey, United States, dedicated to magnetic confinement fusion research. It was a type of tokamak, a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) device that uses magnetic fields to contain extremely hot plasma for nuclear fusion.123

In 1994, the TFTR achieved a major milestone by generating 10 megawatts of fusion power using a deuterium-tritium fuel mixture. This experiment was crucial for understanding how fusion reactions and the resulting alpha particles affect plasma behavior. While practical fusion reactors have not yet been built, experiments like those at TFTR have largely achieved the necessary plasma conditions, indicating fusion energy is a serious possibility for electricity production.14

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4 Britannica Sources
  1. fusion reactor - Magnetic confinement
  2. nuclear fusion - Magnetic confinement
  3. tokamak
  4. nuclear fusion - History of fusion energy research

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