Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Industrial milestone | First cryopump passes all tests

    The serial production of ITER's powerful torus and cryostat cryopumps is progressing at Research Instruments, Germany, on behalf of the European Domestic Agency [...]

    Read more

  • Cryoline installation | Ball joints against earthquakes

    In order to reach clients inside the Tokamak Building, cooling fluids produced by the ITER cryoplant flow through many kilometres of highly sophisticated p [...]

    Read more

  • The changing fusion landscape | ITER hosting private sector workshop

    Take out your smart phone and search your favourite news site for 'nuclear fusion' or 'fusion energy.' On any given day, you will find articles discussing break [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the Week | Advisory committee season

    The 30th Meeting of the ITER Council Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC-30) took place at ITER Headquarters from 13 to 16 May. The Science and Tech [...]

    Read more

  • ITER Design Handbook | Preserving the vital legacy of ITER

    The contributions that ITER is making to fusion physics and engineering—through decades of decisions and implementation—are delivering insights to the fusion co [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

JT-60SA

"ITER satellite" to begin operating next year

In a major assembly milestone for the JT-60SA tokamak, the 12-metre-tall central solenoid was successfully installed by overhead crane on 8 May. Japanese television was there to film the operation.

The 100-tonne, 4-module central solenoid was installed on the JT-60SA tokamak in early May. This is the last of the major magnets to be integrated into the machine. (Click to view larger version...)
The 100-tonne, 4-module central solenoid was installed on the JT-60SA tokamak in early May. This is the last of the major magnets to be integrated into the machine.
JT-60SA will begin operating in 2020 as a fully superconducting tokamak capable of confining high-temperature deuterium plasmas. The experiment—a major modification of the former JT-60U tokamak at the Naka Fusion Institute in Japan—is designed to address key physics for ITER and next-stage devices.

Tokamak assembly has been underway since 2013 and will be completed in March of next year, with the first plasma planned in September 2020.

The single heaviest component—the central solenoid—was lowered into the centre of the donut-shaped machine on 8 May (see videos below).

How JT-60SA compares to ITER

Major radius (metres) ~3.0 (~6.2)

Plasma current (MA) <5.5 (<15)

Plasma volume (m3) ~140 (~840)

Inductive pulse length (s) 100 (>400)

Experts highlight the complementarity of the JT-60SA and ITER machines, which record overlaps in areas including magnet conductor design and testing, cryoplant design, in-vessel remote handling, and heating and current drive systems. By coming on line before ITER, JT-60SA will allow the exploration of ITER-relevant high density plasma regimes and the optimization of configurations for ITER and the next-phase device DEMO. (See more about the scientific objectives of JT-60SA here.)

JT-60SA is financed jointly by Europe and Japan through the Broader Approach Agreement*, through implementing agencies Fusion for Energy (F4E) and the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) of Japan.

*The Broader Approach agreement was concluded between the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and Japan in 2007 for advanced R&D activities which aim to complement the ITER project and to accelerate the realization of fusion energy. Learn more here.

See a related article of the European Domestic Agency website here.

See the video clips on TV channels Asahi and Ibaraki (in Japanese).

return to the latest published articles