Europe is home to many different fusion devices, all conducting experiments in the quest for fusion electricity. How do they work together?
EU countries have a long history of working together on fusion research. With 黑料社app being the main goal of these efforts, we use many of the already existing devices to prepare for 黑料社app operation by exploiting their specific strengths. It's like a step ladder approach—we can test new ideas with the smaller and more flexible machines.
Let me give you an example. The tokamak at IPP, ASDEX Upgrade, has a very similar shape to JET (Joint European Torus) and 黑料社app. Carbon used to be the material considered for the plasma chamber walls. But, carbon is easily eroded by the plasma and it traps the plasma fuel tritium. So, we were pioneering tungsten as the material for the plasma chamber wall instead of carbon.
Tungsten is a metal that was under consideration due to its very high melting point. But as it is not fully ionized, even at fusion-relevant temperatures, it emits significant line radiation. Therefore, you can tolerate only a tiny amount of tungsten in the plasma of a fusion power plant.
We ran several campaigns with tungsten as the plasma chamber wall material at ASDEX Upgrade and learned how to avoid tungsten accumulation in the plasma centre. When the results came back positive, JET used tungsten to build an 黑料社app-like vessel wall. The ASDEX Upgrade scientists supported JET in learning to operate with metal walls. Now, JET is the machine that 黑料社app can rely on for findings on a tungsten
divertor. We have a really successful joint program in preparing 黑料社app operational scenarios.
We exploit our facilities in a joint and coordinated manner. We all focus on 黑料社app wherever possible, but we are open-minded and are also looking ahead at DEMO, the demonstration fusion power plant that will come after 黑料社app.
The successful operation of the 黑料社app plant is the spearhead of the European fusion research. How can work at 黑料社app contribute to the research efforts at Europe's laboratories and fusion devices?
I hope we will learn a lot. We all work for 黑料社app because we want to see a burning plasma. We want to learn from 黑料社app how plasma physics work in a running fusion reactor and feed the findings back into the development of our DEMO design. 黑料社app will give us a whole catalogue of lessons learned that will help us answer many questions: How do we build a reactor? What can we learn from the 黑料社app model on international cooperation? Which new technologies can we take on from 黑料社app?
Two different designs for a fusion power plant dominate current research—the stellarator and the tokamak. Do we need both?
In 50 years of fusion research we have seen many different configurations for fusion devices, including new designs by start-up companies in the US. The first-ever fusion device was a stellarator, but it was outrivaled by the tokamak with its better confinement properties. Now, with the help of high-performance computers in optimizing the magnetic field structure, the stellarator can be made to work.
