Largest Fusion Reactor

Wendelstein 7-X is the largest fusion device created using the stellarator concept which was the brainchild of physicist Lyman Spitzer. It is planned to operate with up to 30 minutes of continuous plasma discharge, demonstrating an essential feature of a future power plant: continuous operation. The Wendelstein 7-X device is based on a five field-period Helias configuration. It is mainly a toroid, consisting of 50 non-planar and 20 planar superconducting magnetic coils, 3.5 m high, which induce a magnetic field that prevents the plasma from colliding with the reactor walls. The 50 non-planar coils are used for adjusting the magnetic field. Continue reading for two more videos and information.

The end of the construction phase was officially marked by an inauguration ceremony on May 20, 2014. After a period of vessel leak-checking, beginning in the summer of 2014, the cryostat was put under vacuum, and magnet testing was completed in July 2015.The first plasma tests were scheduled to begin during operational phase 1 (OP-1) in late 2015. A three-lab American consortium (Princeton, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos) became a partner in the project, paying 7.5 million Euro of the projected total cost of 1.06 billion Euros.

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