Fusion R&D on the way towards fusion energy

Magnetic confinement fusion research is developing the scientific and technical basis for realizing a fusion power plant based on the confinement of a burning high temperature fusion plasma. Confinement and stability properties of magnetically confined plasmas are increasingly well understood and the actual confinement values achieved, when extrapolated to a fusion power plant, are close to the required values. Only recently, the European fusion experiment JET achieved a world record of the fusion energy produced. The international project ITER is aiming at a burning fusion plasma with 500 MW of fusion power. While the design of ITER is based on the tokamak concept, stellarators promise a more economic fusion power plant. However, to overcome fundamental disadvantages their design needs an elaborate optimization procedure. The Wendelstein 7-X device in Greifswald is a first-of-a-kind stellarator based on such an optimized design. It went into operation in 2015 and on its way to a 30 minutes high power plasma already demonstrated many of its special characteristics.

The presentation will discuss status and prospects of magnetic confinement fusion R&D, put the Wendelstein 7-X project into a broader perspective and also briefly address the recent milestones achieved by inertial confinement fusion experiments.