TPX was designed to test theories which suggested ways of making a future fusion power reactor compact, economic, and reliable.
It was designed to operate at high values of Beta, meaning that it would be able to store more plasma pressure for a given magnetic field.
The design team was managed by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and included members from other US institutions.
[2] KSTAR uses Hydrogen, not Deuterium as TPX was designed to, so neutron activation of components is not as large a problem.
Because TPX was designed to be steady-state (or at least long-pulse, with 1,000 seconds duration), the electromagnetic coils which provide the magnetic field were to be superconducting.