Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics
🇩🇪 Garching, DE · Active
Also known as IPP
The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) is a German research institute that studies the physics and engineering of a future fusion power plant. It belongs to the Max Planck Society and has two sites, Garching near Munich (founded 1960) and Greifswald (founded 1994). In Garching it runs ASDEX Upgrade, a mid-sized tokamak with an all-tungsten wall that has operated since 1991. In Greifswald it built and operates Wendelstein 7-X, completed in 2015 and described by Wikipedia as the world's largest stellarator; a stellarator confines plasma with twisted external coils instead of a large current flowing in the plasma. IPP also works on the design of DEMO, the planned demonstration power plant, and collaborates with ITER and JET.
- Sector
- Fusion
- Technology
- Stellarator, Tokamak
- Fuel
- Deuterium–deuterium
- Role
- Research institute, Operator
It is the operator of record for ASDEX UPGRADE (operating) and Wendelstein 7-X (operating). Measured results for ASDEX UPGRADE, Wendelstein 7-X are listed below.
Terms
- Stellarator
- Confinement produced by external coils twisted into complex three-dimensional shapes, so no net current has to be driven through the plasma. That removes the disruptions a tokamak's plasma current can cause and allows continuous operation, at the price of coils that are far harder to design and build.
- Tokamak
- Doughnut-shaped magnetic confinement using a strong toroidal field plus a current driven through the plasma itself. The most-studied configuration, and the one ITER uses. Its main open problem is heat exhaust at the divertor, where the plasma edge concentrates power onto a small area, together with the risk of disruptions: sudden, uncontrolled losses of the plasma current.
- Deuterium–deuterium
- Deuterium only. Needs far higher temperature than D-T, but the fuel is abundant in seawater and no tritium breeding is required. It is not neutron-free: about half of D-D reactions release a 2.45 MeV neutron, and the tritium made by the other half can fuse in turn, releasing 14.1 MeV neutrons.
Results
Plasma duration (sustained)
claimed2025-05-22
Wendelstein 7-X sets new performance records in fusion research [UPDATE]
Plasma duration (sustained)
claimed2023-02-15
Fusion triple product (nTτE)
claimed2017
Ion temperature
claimed2017
Plasma density
claimed2017
Plasma duration
claimed2017
Fusion triple product (nTτE)
claimed2016shot 32305
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Ion temperature (peak)
claimed2016shot 32305
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Plasma density
claimed2016shot 32305
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Energy confinement time (τE)
claimed2016shot 32305
Continuing progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criteria
Design values
| Device | Parameter | Value | Unit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASDEX UPGRADE | Major radius | 1.65 | m | design valueclaimed |
| ASDEX UPGRADE | Minor radius | 0.5 | m | design valueclaimed |
| ASDEX UPGRADE | On-axis magnetic field | 3.2 | T | design valueclaimed |
| ASDEX UPGRADE | Plasma current | 1.4 | MA | design valueclaimed |
| ASDEX UPGRADE | Plasma duration (nominal) | 10 | s | design valueclaimed |
| Wendelstein 7-X | Major radius | 5.5 | m | design valueclaimed |
| Wendelstein 7-X | Minor radius | 0.53 | m | design valueclaimed |
| Wendelstein 7-X | On-axis magnetic field | 3 | T | design valueclaimed |
Devices
Related companies
Sources
- Wendelstein 7-X | Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysikoperator
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physicsoperator
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physicsaggregator
- Wendelstein 7-Xaggregator
- ASDEX Upgradeaggregator