The “stellarator”. It is a brilliant term for a nuclear fusion reactor: futuristic-sounding and yet perfectly accurate. The machine mimics stellar processes in order to generate energy. This November, if clearance from the regulatory authority is forthcoming, engineers will fire up the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator (W7-X) in Greifswald, Germany.
Construction of the W7-X cost €1bn. It is a ring-shaped chamber, 16 metres in diameter. Inside, electrically charged gas known as plasma will circulate at temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius. The plasma is held in place by magnetic fields and the pressure is such that the atomic nuclei it contains fuse together, releasing energy in the same manner as the atoms in the sun.
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