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

  • Fusion world | Japan and Europe inaugurate largest tokamak in the world

    It was 6:00 a.m. in La Bergerie, a former sheep barn located a few kilometres from ITER in the vast Château de Cadarache domain, and that had been converted [...]

    Read more

  • Stakeholders | ITER Director-General meets Prime Minister Kishida

    In Japan, the prime minister lives and works at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in central Tokyo, just a few blocks from the National Diet Building and [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | Season wrapping

    Although the travel distance is short, barely exceeding one hundred metres, the transfer of vacuum vessel sector #8 from the Assembly Hall, where it is presentl [...]

    Read more

  • In memoriam | Bernard Pégourié, physicist and mountaineer

    The worldwide fusion community mourns Bernard Pégourié, of France's Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (CEA-IRFM), who passed away on 25 November following [...]

    Read more

  • COP28 | Fusion is making a splash

    The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, opened on 30 November in Dubai's Expo City—a sprawling conference centre built two years ago for the W [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

W7-X stellarator : the step-by-step march toward first plasma

Preparing a fusion device for first plasma is a step-by-step, carefully monitored process. In the last two months at Wendelstein 7-X, superconducting temperatures of 4 K were achieved, the vessel was sealed tight, and evacuation (to create a vacuum) began. In May, the magnets will be tested for the first time under power. Photo: IPP, Torsten Bräuer (Click to view larger version...)
Preparing a fusion device for first plasma is a step-by-step, carefully monitored process. In the last two months at Wendelstein 7-X, superconducting temperatures of 4 K were achieved, the vessel was sealed tight, and evacuation (to create a vacuum) began. In May, the magnets will be tested for the first time under power. Photo: IPP, Torsten Bräuer
Preparations for the operation of the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device in Greifswald, Germany are in full swing. In advance of the decisive magnet cooling stage many preparatory steps have been carried out, including the cleaning and flushing of the numerous helium cooling pipes and the start-up of the cryoplant (which had undergone thorough testing at an earlier date). 

On 13 February the gradual cooling of the cryoplant got off to a start. All systems were carefully monitored during the step-by-step process, with particular attention to checking for leaks in the piping or cooling systems.

Four weeks later, on 10 March, the target temperature of 4 K was attained—an essential milestone, as well as a prerequisite, for superconductivity in the magnets. Verifications will still take some time yet; presumably in May the magnets will be tested for the first time under power.

On 12 March the last ports in the plasma vessel were sealed vacuum-tight and evacuation of the vessel could begin. In addition to readying diagnostic equipment and working on switchgear and cabling, the verification of leak-tightness in the numerous connections and seals is proceeding. 

A "first plasma" in Wendelstein 7-X is expected by the end of 2015, at the latest.

Read the original article on the IPP website.

return to the latest published articles