Power Company of Billings, Montana. Initial prototypes at the CDIF were operated for short durations, with various coals: Montana Rosebud, and a high-sulphur corrosive coal, Illinois No. 6. A great deal of engineering, chemistry and material science was completed. After final components were developed, operational testing completed with 4,000 hours of continuous operation, 2,000 on Montana Rosebud, 2,000 on Illinois No. 6. The testing ended in 1993. Japanese development The Japanese program in the late 1980s concentrated on closed-cycle MHD. The belief was that it would have higher efficiencies, and smaller equipment, especially in the clean, small, economical plant capacities near 100 megawatts (electrical) which are suited to Japanese conditions. Open-cycle coal-powered plants are generally thought to become economical above 200 megawatts. The first major series of experiments was FUJI-1, a blow-down system powered from a shock tube at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. These experiments extracted up to 30.2% of enthalpy, and achieved power densities near 100 megawatts per cubic meter. This facility was funded by Tokyo Electric Power, other Japanese utilities, and the Department of Education. Some authorities believe this system was a disc generator with a helium and argon carrier gas and potassium ionization seed. In 1994, there were detailed plans for FUJI-2, a 5 MWe continuous closed-cycle facility, powered by natural gas, to be built using the experience of FUJI-1. The basic MHD design was to be a system with inert gases using a disk generator. The aim was an enthalpy extraction of 30% and an MHD thermal efficiency of 60%. FUJI-2 was to be followed by a retrofit to a 300MWe natural gas plant. Australian development In 1986, Professor Hugo Karl Messerle at The University of Sydney researched coal-fueled MHD. This resulted in a 28MWe topping facility that was operated outside Sydney. Messerle also wrote one of the most recent reference works (see below), as part of a UNESCO education program. A detailed obituary for Hugo is located on the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) website. Italian development The Italian program began in 1989 with a budget of about 20 million $US, and had three main development areas: MHD Modelling. Superconducting magnet development. The goal in 1994 was a prototype 2m long, storing 66MJ, for an MHD demonstration 8m long. The field was to be 5teslas, with a taper of 0.15T/m. The geometry was to resemble a saddle shape, with cylindrical and