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The ITER project has completed the construction of the largest and most powerful pulsed magnet system on Earth, a significant step forward in fusion research. This system is essential to contain the extremely hot plasma in the reactor and prevent it from melting surrounding materials.
Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun, involves the merging of light atomic nuclei under extreme conditions to release vast amounts of energy. ITER, located in southern France, is an international effort to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy. The project involves more than 30 countries, including the EU, US, China, and Russia.
The magnet system consists of seven superconducting magnets, with a combined weight of nearly 3,000 tons, capable of generating magnetic fields hundreds of thousands of times stronger than Earth's. These magnets are cooled to near absolute zero to achieve superconductivity, allowing them to carry enormous currents without energy loss.
ITER aims to prove that fusion can produce more energy than it consumes, with a target output of 500 megawatts from 50 megawatts of input. While not a power plant itself, ITER's success could pave the way for commercial fusion reactors by the 2040s or 2050s, offering a nearly limitless, clean energy source.
