The U.S. tried to proceed with a next - step
burning plasma experiment in the 1980s, but was unable to obtain congressional funding.
So the race is now on to see which team might achieve a dynamo first: the
Madison plasma experiment or the Maryland sodium one.
Forest designed
his plasma experiment to mirror magnetic regimes far beyond Earth's.
These areas include: plasma theory and simulation;
plasma experiments; plasma diagnostics; undergraduate plasma education; engineering support; and safety.
He initially performed both neutronics — the study of neutrons that emerge from plasmas — and plasma control calculations for the design of the Burning
Plasma Experiment (BPX), a fusion facility that was targeted to produce about 100 - 500 megawatts of fusion power, which at a minimum would equal the heating power but was hoped to exceed it.