New nuclear fusion reactor’s electromagnet could lift 10 monster trucks

The world’s largest and most powerful superconducting electromagnet is ready to become the pulsing “heart” inside of a massive tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. Developed over 40 years in collaboration with over 30 countries, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) facility in southern France aims to finally demonstrate nuclear fusion’s potential as a commercially viable energy source. But in order to do that, ITER requires a six module Central Solenoid magnet system that weighs nearly 3,000 tons. Once assembled, the installation will be strong enough to lift a 112,000-pound aircraft carrier, or about 10 monster trucks.

An acronym of the Russian-language designation of “toroidal chamber with magnetic coils,” a tokamak is a donut-shaped fusion reactor that relies on pulsed magnetic charges to ionize only a few grams’ worth of deuterium and tritium hydrogen gas fuel. The ionized plasma is then confined by an “invisible cage” of magnetic energy while external heating systems increase plasma temperature to over 270,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit—or hotter than the sun’s core. At that point, the plasma’s atomic nuclei begin to combine (hence “nuclear fusion”), in the process releasing unprecedented amounts of heat that can then hypothetically be used to provide limitless, clean energy to the masses.

ITER engineers expect their tokamak reactor to generate 500 megawatts (Mw) of fusion power using just 50 Mw of input heating–compared with a nuclear fission reactor’s roughly 1,000 Mw of power output from an input of 3000 Mw . This will enable ongoing fusion to become a mostly self-heating burning plasma. All that immense energy will be contained using the Central Solenoid’s magnetic forces.

“It is like the bottle in a bottle of wine: of course the wine is maybe more important than the bottle, but you need the bottle in order to put the wine inside,” ITER director general Pietro Barabaschi recently explained to Reuters.

ITER has been plagued with delays for years thanks to a combination of logistical challenges, shifting geopolitical landscapes, and financial burdens. Now that the  final Central Solenoid module is complete, all that’s left is to finish installing the reactor’s components and ready the facility for testing—but even that will take time. ITER’s start-up phase for generating plasma likely won’t take place until at least 2033. Even so, Barabaschi remains hopeful about the tokamak reactor’s potential, as well as what it represents on a global scale.

“This achievement proves that when humanity faces existential challenges like climate change and energy security, we can overcome national differences to advance solutions,” he said in a statement. “The ITER Project is the embodiment of hope. With ITER, we show that a sustainable energy future and a peaceful path forward are possible.”

 

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