TRUST Project

The TRUST project (Tuscia Research University Small Tokamak) was born in 2022 from an idea of Giuseppe Calabrò, professor in SSD ING-IND/31 Electrical Engineering and Magnetic Fusion Energy, and Pierluigi Fanelli, associate professor in ING-IND/14 Machine Design. The main aim is to create a new hub for research and study of nuclear fusion. The aim of this project is to prepare a new generation of engineers with specific skills in this field, combining theoretical knowledge with practical training.

The team responsible for nuclear fusion research has been operating since 2016 and is called UNITUS4FUSION. It currently has about 30 people, including Master Students, PhD students, Researchers and Professors. Most of the team was trained at the Tuscia University.

But not only: TRUST can count on the collaboration of organizations and companies located throughout the country and beyond. The main partners are ENEA® (the national agency for new technologies to achieve sustainable development) and Tokamak Energy Ltd®(a British company that deals with the global development of nuclear energy). To these, we must add the collaborations with other important entities (ENI®, Walter Tosto S.p.A. ®, OCEM S.R.L® and much others.

Explanation of the work on the Tokamak

The TRUST project involves the creation of a small tokamak to test and study new nuclear technologies. Specifically, it plans to examine, in a flexible manner, innovative materials that resist the high thermal flux effects of this type of experiment. In addition, TRUST aims to test high-temperature superconducting materials (HTSs) for the production of coils and magnets needed to operate tokamaks. As regards the structure and operation of the experiment, the preliminary concept design appears defined and divided into four sub-assemblies:

a) the vacuum vessel (VV) and in-vessel components (IVC) system,

b) the cryostat system,

c) the poloidal magnetic field (PF) coils and the central solenoid modules (CS),

d) the toroidal field coil (TF) system.

The TRUST project itself has three operational phases (OPs):

OP1. Testing and commissioning of all components, the entire copper magnetic system, testing of HTS coils in a dedicated test laboratory;

OP2. Replacement of a copper PF coil with an HTS coil and study of different plasma scenarios and performance;

OP3. Achievement of maximum performance and discharge of plasma in steady state conditions, all magnetic systems in HTS material, addition of a radio frequency system (ECRH) to support the discharge.

The OP1 has already been started in a new laboratory, where the feeding of copper and HTS coils is being tested. The laboratory currently includes an IGBT supercapacitor power supply (of 1200V and 600A) and a programmable DC power supply (40V and 120A). Magnetic diagnostics and control systems (both required for the operation of a tokamak device) will also be produced and tested here.

Targets

Our work on the production of renewable nuclear energy has enabled us to define, through a series of studies and research, two fundamental objectives:

• The academic objective, which aims to train a new class of professionals with specific expertise in nuclear fusion.

• The scientific objective, which aims to achieve a proper study of meta-materials for plasma-facing components (PFCs) and the design of specific HTS coils for use in future reactors.