Latest issue of the Wendelstein Newsletter

Information on the construction of the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device

The Wendelstein 7-X Newsletter reports recent developments relating to the Wendelstein 7-X fusion experiment.

Issue 9/2013 portraits the in-vessel components which protect the vessel walls against the impact of the hot plasma.

For the first operation phase with short plasma pulses of 5 to 10 seconds a temporary wall covering – copper plates coated with graphite tiles – will be installed. After about two years of operation there will be enough data to replace this test cladding by the actual high-heat-flux divertor for the long discharges of up to 30 minutes. It will be installed during a shutdown of two years. These high-tech plates can withstand the thermal and mechanical loads permanently and are capable to dissipate 10 million watts per square metre continuously. The serial production of this final wall covering is going on – 890 elements with tiles made of 8 millimetre thick carbon-fibre-reinforced carbon, which are connected to water-cooled metal blocks.

To download the Newsletter >>