From confinement approaches to heating, magnets, fuel and materials: explore principles, component roles and development stages, then the companies and projects behind them. Understand the industrial context as well as the technology.
Understand fusion through the positions of magnets, vessels and fuel. Explore all five models, then follow the connections to technology, experiments and industry.
01ITER
Inspect ITER’s D-shaped coils, central solenoid and vacuum vessel.
02Wendelstein 7-X
Explore W7-X’s modular non-planar coils and distinguish them from LHD’s helical coils.
03NIF
Trace NIF’s indirect-drive geometry from the chamber to the tiny central target.
04Helion Trenta
Explore formation, transfer and compression regions in a Trenta-inspired linear device.
05General Fusion LM26
Inspect the relationship between magnetized plasma, lithium liner and compression system in an LM26-inspired model.
Start with tokamaks and their accumulated research and operating experience, then explore stellarators, heliotrons and laser fusion. Diagrams explain each approach’s progress and remaining challenges for power generation.
Tokamaks have accumulated extensive fusion research and manufacturing experience. This guide connects magnetic-field principles with ITER, JT-60SA, high-temperature superconductors and opportunities for industrial participation.
Helical systems and stellarators design their magnetic fields with external coils. This guide examines W7-X and LHD results, company concepts, and the challenges of three-dimensional manufacturing and maintenance.
What has NIF ignition demonstrated, and what remains? This guide explains implosion, laser efficiency, target delivery and connections with Japanese companies and products.
In a 9 November research update, France's CEA explained coordinated WEST–DIII-D experiments that matched normalized plasma conditions despite different machines. The 2025 tests, published in May 2026, offer clues on confinement, H-mode access and ion heating for ITER.
Sending data 400 metres at intervals of 100 microseconds or less. NTT and QST’s communication test highlights the importance of getting distant equipment to work on time. It reveals a role for communications in fusion, and the challenges of putting it to work in actual plasma control.
Before ITER can assemble its giant fusion components, they must travel from the Mediterranean coast along a specially adapted 104-kilometre road route. Bridge tests, overnight motorway crossings and a five-night cryostat journey reveal the engineering behind these extraordinary deliveries.
2026年10月6日、Research InstrumentsがITER用内側垂直ターゲットの量産初号機をF4Eへ引き渡した。2,208個のタングステンブロックを水冷管に接合する部品の製造と、量産に残る課題を整理する。
Why do fusion machines look so different? Explore five educational 3D models created by FI and compare the positions of magnets, vessels and fuel.
A 29-entry guide across 21 countries and international frameworks, from Japan’s QST and NIFS to global public research centres. Distinguish research, construction and design, and find the problem each organisation addresses.
JOREKの公開は、核融合研究の何を変えるのか。破砕ペレット入射の計算、ASDEX Upgradeでの実験比較、再現可能な解析環境を支える仕事と限界を読む。
IFMIF-DONES is not a power plant but a facility for testing fusion-reactor materials with neutrons. How does the Spanish project connect with Rokkasho’s LIPAc? Starting with the October 2026 procurement arrangements, this guide explains IFMIF and EVEDA, accelerators and liquid lithium, and the difficulty of assessing material life.
What has AI changed in fusion research? Sousei at Rokkasho, shape control on TCV and instability avoidance on DIII-D help distinguish physics simulation from machine learning, demonstrated results from remaining challenges.
NIFSなどは10月19日、単発X線でプラズマの微細構造を同時に調べる新手法を発表。遮る代わりに弱める仕組みと、レーザー吸収を左右する初期状態を解説する。発電実証ではなく、計測と理解の前進だ。
Why add nitrogen and other gases to a plasma that needs to stay hot? Distinguishing core losses from edge radiative cooling, ASDEX Upgrade experiments explain the mechanisms and limits of heat-exhaust control and questions for diagnostics and control suppliers.
Fusion research has not been a history of everyone switching together to the best-performing machine. After US priorities shifted to tokamaks, Japan and Germany developed other paths. The turning point was not simply learning to manufacture complex coils: designers increasingly worked backward from desired plasma properties to magnetic fields and coils, then tested predictions in real machines. Follow the 1951 concept, Wendelstein 7-AS, LHD, and Wendelstein 7-X to understand progress and the distance still remaining to power plants.
方式の違いをつかんだら、加熱・材料・燃料・保守など、装置を動かす要素技術へ。研究成果と発電所の目標を分けて読み進められます。
まず、燃料をどのように高温にして、核融合が起きる状態を保つかに注目します。それぞれの方式の解説で、閉じ込めの考え方と装置に必要な技術を比較できます。
実験のエネルギー利得を読むときは、何を入力・出力として比べた数値かを確かめます。発電には、熱を電気に変える設備や装置全体の消費電力、運転・保守も含めた評価が必要です。
同じ核融合の研究でも、プラズマの制御、材料・機器の試験、発電実証など、装置の目的はさまざまです。プロジェクトの目的と開発段階を確認してから成果を読むと、意義を理解しやすくなります。
