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Europe and Japan celebrate breakthrough in fusion energy
6/12/2023
News
The world’s biggest operational experimental nuclear fusion reactor has been inaugurated in Japan.
The JT-60SA tokamak, the most powerful experimental fusion energy device to date – a joint project between Europe and Japan – was officially opened at a ceremony in Naka, Japan.
The European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, together with Japan’s Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama and Japan’s Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Sanae Takaichi, were joined by senior politicians, representatives from industry and the research community to inaugurate the facility.
JT-60SA results from a scientific collaboration signed between the European Union and Japan to promote the advancement of know-how in fusion through various projects. Works for the device started in 2007 and were completed in 2020 with the end of assembly. A series of technical improvements were then carried out, with first plasma operations this year.
In the tokamak gaseous fuel is introduced into a toroidal chamber where magnetic coils cause it to accelerate to very high speed, at which point the gas is ionised to become plasma. The plasma is then heated to 300mn °C, where it is contained by the magnetic fields.
The overall cost of the project for the phase of construction is estimated to be in the range of €560mn, shared between Europe and Japan.
