The KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) project is a Korean national project to design, construct, and operate a steady- state-capable superconducting tokamak. The research objectives are to extend the present stability and performance boundaries of tokamak operation through active control of profiles and transport; to explore methods to achieve steady state operation for tokamak fusion reactors using noninductive current drive; to integrate optimized plasma performance and continuous operation as a step toward an attractive tokamak fusion reactor. The project, managed by Korea Basic Science Institute, is shared by national laboratories, universities, and industry along with international collaboration. It is in its second year of the design phase and aims for the first plasma by August 2002.

The key design features of KSTAR are: major radius 1.8 m, minor radius 0.5 m, toroidal field 3.5 T, plasma current 2 MA, and flexible plasma shaping (elongation 2.0; triangularity 0.8; double-null poloidal divertor). Both the toroidal and the poloidal fields coils are superconducting magnets with Nb₃Sn mostly and NbTi. The device is configured to be initially capable of 20s pulse operation and then to be upgraded for operation up to 300s with non-inductive current drive. The initial auxiliary heating and current drive consist of neutral beam (8MW), ICRF (6MW), lower hybrid (1.5MW), and ECRF (0.5 MW for pre-ionization/startup-assist). Additional passive stabilizers and internal copper coils are provided close to the plasma for the control of MHD modes, vertical displacement and plasma position. Deuterium operation is planned with a full radiation shielding.