The Mirror Fusion Test Facility: An Intermediate Device to a Mirror Fusion Reactor

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF-B) now under construction at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory represents more than an order-of-magnitude step from earlier magnetic-mirror experiments toward a future mirror fusion reactor. In fact, when the device begins operating in 1986, the Lawson criteria of will almost be achieved for D-T equivalent operation, thus signifying scientific breakeven. Major steps have been taken to develop MFTF-B technologies for tandem mirrors. Steady-state, high-field, superconducting magnets at reactor-relevant scales are used in the machine. The 30-s beam pulses, ECRH, and ICRH will also introduce steady-state technologies in those systems.