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.
In the record: 7 companies, 2 laboratories and programmes, 16 devices and 0 reactor designs.
Not yet in the record for this approach: reactor designs.
Related approaches
Broader: Magnetic confinement
Companies 7
Laboratories and programmes 2
Devices 16
Operating devices first, then those being built or planned, then those shut down, suspended or cancelled.
- CTH Operating Auburn University · US · 4 measurements
- HELIOTRON J Operating Kyoto University · JP · 3 measurements
- HIDRA Operating University of Illinois · US · 3 measurements
- HSX Operating University of Wisconsin-Madison · US · 3 measurements
- SCR-1 Operating Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica · CR · 4 measurements
- TJ-II Operating CIEMAT · ES · 3 measurements
- TJ-K Operating University of Stuttgart · DE · 3 measurements
- URAGAN-2M Operating Institute of Plasma Physics National Science Center · UA · 3 measurements
- URAGAN-3M Operating Institute of Plasma Physics National Science Center · UA · 3 measurements
- Wendelstein 7-X Operating Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics · DE · 9 measurements
- CFQS Under construction Southwest Jiaotong University · CN · 3 measurements
- Alpha (Proxima Fusion) Planned Proxima Fusion · DE
- Infinity One Planned Type One Energy · US
- Infinity Two Planned Type One Energy · US · 2 measurements
- Stellaris Planned Proxima Fusion · DE
- Large Helical Device Shut down National Institute for Fusion Science · JP · 3 measurements
Measurements
13 devices using this approach carry 46 measurements: 40 claimed, 5 planned, 1 disputed. The values, each with its status and source, are on the benchmark and on each device's page. Most measured: Wendelstein 7-X (9), CTH (4), SCR-1 (4), HELIOTRON J (3), HIDRA (3).
Guides
- Fusion approaches compared Every family of fusion machine, how each holds its fuel, the best result this dataset holds for it, its main unsolved problem and the organisations pursuing it.
- Compare approaches and devices How to use the comparison pages to set two approaches side by side, and the device table and leaderboards to compare individual machines.
- Commercial timeline of fusion power Six fusion power plants are on record, all still planned. The only dated electricity purchase is Helion's May 2023 deal to supply Microsoft from 2028.
Stellarator in the glossary · Fusion overview · All approaches