Japan's fusion power project has produced first plasma at the JT-60SA research facility, the National Institutes for Quantum Science & Technology (QST) reported. The research will advance to the next phase, building and testing an experimental fusion reactor.
The JT-60SA facility was completed at QST in Naka, Ibaraki prefecture, in 2020, with Japan and Europe providing the funding. QST and Fusion for Energy (F4E) are the implementing agencies responsible for the manufacture of components, assembly and commissioning of JT-60SA.
JT-60SA was developed using much of the existing site infrastructure from the Japan Torus-60 upgrade experiment (JT-60U), which cuts project assembly time and costs, but most of the main components have been re-designed and manufactured.
The JT-60SA's central unit is around 16 metres high and 13 metres in diameter. It is the world’s second-largest plasma research facility exceeded only by the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) under construction in France. Work undertaken by JT-60SA will support ITER.
Image: View of the JT-60SA device
