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In another step towards building the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ fusion reactor, the US ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ team has worked with international partners to verify the performance of the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ central solenoid conductor. Using a US-designed "insert coil" (a test coil inserted in a large, high-field magnet), the international team tested the Japanese-manufactured central solenoid conductor at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency test facility in Naka and evaluated the findings. Results showed that the conductor performed as predicted, without degradation.

 

The ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ central solenoid is under fabrication in the US at a General Atomics facility in Poway, California using conductor provided by Japan. The 1,000-metric-ton electromagnet, known as the "heartbeat" of ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ, will provide the majority of the magnetic flux needed to start and sustain ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ's plasma current. Over 42 kilometres of conductor will ultimately be wound into pancakes and assembled into the modules of the central solenoid. The electromagnet will have a magnetic field strength of up to 13 Tesla, or about 260,000 times the Earth's magnetic field.

 

"The testing in Naka verified conductor performance under conditions comparable to what the conductor will experience inside the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ Tokamak—including temperature, magnetic field, current, and mechanical strain," said US ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ magnet team leader Wayne Reiersen.

 

Testing conductor before it is installed in the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ machine is part of confirming the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ design and assuring that the conductor will perform in the demanding ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ environment. ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ, which will be the largest tokamak ever built, will employ multiple superconducting magnet systems to confine plasma of over 100 million degrees within a vacuum vessel inside the 10-story-tall tokamak.