HC Deb 18 December 2000 vol 360 cc35-6W
Mr. Page

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on START; and what progress has been made since May 1997. [R] [142880]

Mrs. Liddell

[holding answer 15 December 2000]: START, built and operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at Culham in Oxfordshire from 1991, was a pioneering innovation in the research into the generation of electricity by means of nuclear fusion. START was the world's first working spherical device (the 'spherical tokamak') in which magnetic fields are used to confine the very high temperature plasmas required for energy release from fusion.

There were two important achievements in the period from May 1997. First, a world record for the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure was demonstrated, three times greater than the record from less compact tokamaks. Secondly, it was demonstrated that the spherical tokamak plasma could easily be made to enter a stable, improved mode of operation, in which energy leakage from the plasma is reduced.

START ceased operations on 31 March 1998. Since then its larger successor MAST ("MegaAmpere Spherical Tokamak") has been built at Culham and is confirming the great promise of START. Following the success of START, spherical tokamaks have been built in the US, the Russian Federation, Japan and Brazil.

I have asked UKAEA to send the hon. Member further information on START and MAST and copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House.