Toki, Gifu
is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 58,567 in 24485 households, and a population density of 500 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Toki is known as one of the largest producers of Japanese ...
, Japan, belonging to the
National Institute for Fusion Science
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
.
It is the second largest
superconducting
Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...
stellarator
A stellarator is a plasma device that relies primarily on external magnets to confine a plasma. Scientists researching magnetic confinement fusion aim to use stellarator devices as a vessel for nuclear fusion reactions. The name refers to th ...
in the world, after the
Wendelstein 7-X
The Wendelstein 7-X (abbreviated W7-X) reactor is an experimental stellarator built in Greifswald, Germany, by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), and completed in October 2015.heliotron
magnetic field
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and t ...
originally developed in Japan.
The objective of the project is to conduct fusionplasma confinement research in a steady state in order to elucidate possible solutions to physics and engineering problems in
helical
Helical may refer to:
* Helix
A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is ...
neutral beam injection
Neutral-beam injection (NBI) is one method used to heat plasma inside a fusion device consisting in a beam of high-energy neutral particles that can enter the magnetic confinement field. When these neutral particles are ionized by collision with ...
electron cyclotron resonance heating
A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being ...
(ECRH) to heat the plasma, much like conventional
tokamak
A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being ...
s.
History
* Design finalized 1987
* Start of construction 1990
* Plasma operations from 1998
**Neutral beam injection of 3 MW was used in 1999.
**In 2005 it maintained a plasma for 3,900 seconds.
* In 2006 a new helium cooler was added. Using the new cooler, by 2018 a total of 10 long term operations have been achieved, reaching a maximum power level of 11.833 kA.
* To aid public acceptance, an exhaust system was designed to catch and filter the radioactive
tritium
Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus ...
the fusion process produces.
See also
*
Fusion reactor
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices de ...