Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) has said it has received the first parts for its planned Wendelstein 7-X plasma chamber fusion reactor.

The 35-tonne device is expected to take six years to build. The plant’s chamber has an unusual, asymmetrical to maximise the chances of a fusion reaction. In addition, “the high precision required to make all this is a feat of construction bordering on the technically feasible,” said IPP engineer Bernd Hein, in a European Commission paper on the project. The completed chamber will involve the plasma chamber being surrounded by 70 super-conducting magnetic coils, forcing the super-heated material away from the reactor walls.


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