An improvement to the global software standard for analyzing fusion plasmas

The gold standard for analyzing the behavior of fusion plasmas may have just gotten better. Mario Podest , a staff physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has updated the worldwide computer program known as TRANSP to better simulate the interaction between energetic particles and instabilities - disturbances in plasma that can halt fusion reactions. The program's updates, reported this week in the journal Nuclear Fusion, could lead to improved cap...