ASTRA reactor

The ASTRA (Autonomous Spherical Torus Reactor Assembly) is a gas-cooled magnetized target thermonuclear fusion reactor, developed for Neogen by the Experimental Plasma Lab at Jordan Valley Institute of Technology (JVIT), with initial research & development commencing in 1990 and final concept testing, prototype development and troubleshooting stages spanning ca. 2011–16.

The second fully developed (and first commercially available) ASTRA unit was delivered 10 March 2017 to Neogen, which installed it as the first operational reactor of the otherwise newly completed New Canaan Fusion Station in Jisr el-Majami, Marj ibn Amer District, Palestine. From mid-March to late May, following installation of the first ASTRA unit, final system testing and troubleshooting was conducted, completed virtually without incident, and in efficiently and timely enough a manner to warrant installation of the three remaining reactor units required for the power station's completion according to design, which employed four ASTRA units. Upon delivery and installation of the three additional ASTRA units ca. 5–15 June 2017, New Canaan Fusion Station finalised preparations, with commercial operations commencing 30 April 2018.

ASTRA is the world's only operational fusion reactor technology, five units of which have been produced to date—the original reactor built as the ultimate, successful result of the technology's scientific development, and the four commercially manufactured and installed units employed by New Canaan.