Skip to main content

Wendelstein 7-X closes the ring

Wendelstein 7-X closes the ring

Last month the ring of Wendelstein 7-X was closed: the last of the five large modules that make up the core of the stellarator was installed, closing the ring-shaped core of the device.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"480","attributes":{"class":"media-image","id":"1","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

Left: W-7X installing the last ring. Right: W7-X with a closed ring.

The vessel of the stellarator consists of five parts. With a special crane the last, one hundred ton section of the vessel was put in position. The operation took about three hours and marks a milestone in the Wendelstein 7-X project of Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"481","attributes":{"class":"media-image","id":"1","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

After completion, Wendelstein 7-x will be the most modern fusion reactor of the stellarator type, and is intended to investigate this model’s suitability as a power station, in particular its capability for long pulse operation.

If everything continues to run according to plan, the Wendelstein 7-X project expects to complete the stellarator in time to achieve a first plasma experiment in Greifswald in 2014.