After many years of calculations, preparation and manufacturing of components, the Wendelstein 7-X project is now entering a new phase: in the Greifswald branch of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP - Institut fur Plasmaphysik ), the assembly of the fusion plant has started.
While industrial manufacture is still in progress, the assembly of the large installation was initiated with the threading of the first magnetic coil on the plasma vessel. Construction of the facility will take approximately 6 years.
The object of research on fusion is to succeed in reproducing the phenomena existing in the sun and which make it possible to obtain energy by fusion of the nuclei of atoms. To ignite this fusion fire, a hydrogen plasma must be confined in magnetic fields and brought to temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius. Wendelstein 7-X will, when completed, be the largest Stellarator-type fusion facility in the world. Its objective will be to analyze the suitability of plants of this type for nuclear fusion.
contacts:
- internet: http://www.ipp.mpg.de
Sources: Depeche idw, IPP press release, 19/04/2005
Editor: Nicolas Condette, nicolas.condette@diplomatie.gouv.fr