Steady State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1)

Steady State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) at Institute for Plasma Research
(IPR) is a national initiative at developing an experimental facility to study
plasmas in steady state in the run up to future thermo-nuclear fusion devices
through magnetic confinement. SST-1 has a physics mandate to study steady
state plasmas in circular and elongated configurations assisted with RF
auxiliary systems and feedback controls. SST-1 has also several technological
and engineering elements comprising of large current carrying high field large
superconducting magnets, large cryogenic systems, large UHV vacuum systems,
AC/DC power systems, particle and heat exhaust systems as well as auxiliary
heating systems. SST-1 has recently got commissioned with the `First Plasma’
being obtained in repeatable and reliable fashion in it on June 20, 2013
following a long and systematic engineering validation phase. This talk will
elaborate the experiences with SST-1 leading to its successful commissioning,
the present status of SST-1 and the future plans with SST-1.

About the Speaker:
Subrata Pradhan obtained his Masters from IIT Kanpur and Ph. D. from Gujarat
University. He was a visiting researcher at National High Magnetic Field
Laboratory (USA) and Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. He is also a
honorary professor in Institute of Superconductivity and Electronic Materials
(ISEM) in University of Wollongong in Australia. He was a the Group Leader for
the Magnet Systems of Steady State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) in 1997,
Project Leader at "developing Fusion Relevant Magnet Systems in India" in 2006
and Project Leader of "SST-1 refurbishment, commissioning, experiments and up-
gradations" since 2009.  He has authored more than fifty papers in
international peer reviewed journals and has two patents.