Research News
By now, the gap has been closed: Wendelstein 7-X prior to fitting the final Cryostat device. Photo: IPP, Anja Richter-Ullmann
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Wendelstein 7-X now with Lid
The installation works at the research facility Wendelstein 7-X at the Greifswald branch institute of the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik (IPP) are in full swing: By now, the facility displays its final shape. Wendelstein 7-X will be the worldwide largest fusion device created using the stellarator concept and is intended to demonstrate whether this design is suitable for a future fusion power plant.
Wendelstein 7-X is comprised of five almost identical modules. Each module contains part of the plasma vessel, the heat insulating cladding, 14 superconducting magnetic coils as well as part of the supporting ring structure – a weight of about 120 tonnes per module. Now, all modules have been placed on the machine's foundations and encased in a steel shell. The last part to be fitted was a lid weighing approximately 14 tonnes, which is part of the heat insulating outer shell.
"It is a pity, though", says Dr Hans-Stephan Bosch, Associate Project Director, "that nothing remains to be seen of the entire inner life of the machine, in particular, of the coils that are the trademark of Wendelstein 7-X." Numerous research institutions are involved in building Wendelstein 7-X: For instance, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), together with the University of Stuttgart and an European enterprise, developed the plasma heating system and the entire microwave heating system. The KIT also provided the power supply lines for the coils. The bus system of superconducting wires connecting the magnetic coils with each other and with the power supply lines was developed and manufactured by the research centre “Forschungs-zentrum Jülich”. The implementation of the bus system was the domain of engineers and technicians from the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Krakow. Numerous works inside the facility and in its periphery need to be completed before Wendelstein 7-X can be put into operation in two years' time.
