What does the stellarator do?

A stellarator is a machine that uses magnetic fields to confine plasma in the shape of a donut, called a torus. These magnetic fields allow scientists to control the plasma particles and create the right conditions for fusion reactions.

What is tokamak in plasma physics?

A tokamak is a machine that confines a plasma using magnetic fields in a donut shape that scientists call a torus. Fusion energy scientists believe that tokamaks are the leading plasma confinement concept for future fusion power plants.

How many tokamaks exist?

Several dozen tokamaks are now in operation around the world. The first to demonstrate fusion at significant scale (10 MW) was the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) device at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, though it has since shut down.

How do tokamaks work?

A tokamak is a machine that confines a plasma using magnetic fields in a donut shape that scientists call a torus. In a tokamak, magnetic field coils confine plasma particles to allow the plasma to achieve the conditions necessary for fusion.

How does inertial confinement fusion work?

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a fusion energy research program that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by compressing and heating targets filled with thermonuclear fuel. Sufficiently powerful shock waves can compress and heat the fuel at the center such that fusion occurs.

How is plasma created in a tokamak?

The heart of a tokamak is its doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber. Inside the chamber, gaseous hydrogen fuel is placed under extreme heat and pressure, turning into a plasma—a hot, electrically charged gas. The charged particles of the plasma can be controlled by massive magnetic coils placed around the chamber.

How does a tokamak make electricity?

Inside a tokamak, the energy produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. Just like a conventional power plant, a fusion power plant will use this heat to produce steam and then electricity by way of turbines and generators.

What is stellarator fusion power?

Fusion power may be able to provide the world with safe, clean, and renewable power. The stellarator is one of the technologies scientists believe could lead to real-world fusion power. A stellarator is a machine that uses magnetic fields to confine plasma in the shape of a donut, called a torus.

What are the advantages of a stellarator?

Stellarators have several advantages over tokamaks, the other main technology that scientists are exploring for fusion power. Stellarators require less injected power to sustain the plasma, have greater design flexibility, and allow for simplification of some aspects of plasma control.

What are stellarator coils?

Stellarators use external coils to generate a twisting magnetic field to control the plasma instead of inducing electric currents inside the plasma like a tokamak. Making stellarator coils is a challenge because it requires manufacturers to construct large bore wire coils with millimeter precision.

What is the history of stellarator?

Stellarator Facts The stellarator concept was invented by Lyman Spitzer at Princeton University in 1951. Much of the early development of stellarators in the 1950s occurred at a laboratory that is now DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The work was so difficult that the scientist in charge nicknamed it “Project Matterhorn.”