Europe and Japan Complete the Most Powerful Tokamak in the World

Almost twelve years after they started their collaboration, Europe and Japan have taken an important step in the development of fusion energy by completing JT-60SA, the most powerful tokamak in the world before ITER enters the picture.

With a diameter of 12 m, the dimensions of JT-60SA are about half the size of ITER.

In the future, its powerful heating systems will be able to bring the hydrogen plasma to temperatures over 200 million °C, comparable to those foreseen in ITER.

It also has a similar system of superconducting magnets, which will confine and control the plasma, and a liquid helium cooling system that will cool them to -269 °C.

In terms of plasma volume, JT-60SA is almost five times smaller than ITER and it will operate with a mix of hydrogen and deuterium gas.

Most of the main components have been completely re-designed and manufactured anew by the two partners:

• Europe has contributed the toroidal field coils, high temperature superconductor current leads, the cryostat, the cryoplant, and part of the power supplies;
• Japan provided the poloidal field coils, the vacuum vessel and in-vessel components, basic power supplies, thermal shields, cryostat port extensions, assembly, disassembly and basic remote handling tools.

Read more in the Fusion for Energy Press Release.