Three years after the Department of Energy mothballed the $246 million Lawrence Livermore lab Mirror Fusion Test Facility in favor of more promising tokamak designs, lab scientists are scavenging choice parts of the huge machine for a new international fusion project. MFTF magnets worth $11 million will soon form the core of a new facility that will test and certify superconducting material for the proposed four-nation International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, still in the planning stages. The magnets represent the first major use of MFTF components since the project was halted at its inception in early 1986, Although lab officials don't expect the MFTF program to be revived, assistant group leader Stewart Shen says, "we were very careful not to damage the magnets in the move, and we think we can put them back" should DOE shift its fusion priorities again. The new test facility, due on-line by early 1990, will...
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