Mitsubishi Heavy Industries BrandVoice: The World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Have Plenty Of Magnetism [Video]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries BrandVoice: The World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Have Plenty Of Magnetism [Video]

By Johnny Wood

ITER is an unimaginably ambitious energy project - 35 years in the making, involving 35 participating nations worldwide, with the goal of using fusion as an industrial-scale source of clean energy. When the plant comes online in four years in the south of France, it will be the world's largest nuclear fusion reactor.

Imagine a plant so powerful that it's like producing the sun's energy on Earth. ITET, which is Latin for "the way,“ is expected to be an important advance toward decarbonization.

At the heart of the reactor, a device called a tokamak uses toroidal (doughnut-shaped) magnetic field coils to contain the plasma created by the fusion process. The coils - 18 in all, each the size as a six-story building and weighing 6,000 metric tons - are the most powerful superconductive magnets ever designed.

The animation below shows the role that these giant magnetic coils play in the fusion reaction that produces carbon-free energy.

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About the author

Johnny Wood has been a journalist for over 15 years working in different parts of the world - Asia, Europe and Middle East. In addition to being an accomplished features writer, he has edited several prestigious lifestyle magazines and corporate publications.