Core of fusion experiment completed

The last major part of the Wendelstein 7-X fusion experiment was installed on 21 December last year. The addition of the 14 tonne final part of the device – the lid of the thermally insulating outer shell – sees the completion of the ring-like base machine, at the Greifswald branch of the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, which will begin operation in 2014.

Fusion research aims to draw energy from the fusion of atomic nuclei – the same power source which drives the sun. To achieve this, hydrogen plasma must be superheated to temperatures above 100 million degrees, within the confines of…