Fusion Technology

Megamicrowave: A temperature of 100 million degrees is necessary to “ignite” hydrogen. As in the sun, fusion into helium then releases large amounts of energy. Heating is provided by powerful gyrotron tubes, a kind of microwave oven. This 140 gigahertz gyrotron developed at KIT attains thermal powers of up to 1 megawatt, which corresponds to more than 1000 kitchen-size microwave ovens. The microwave oscillator tube was designed for the Wendelstein 7-X fusion test facility at Greifswald, to which KIT contributes a complete ten megawatt microwave heater system.

 

Nuclear fusion offers a safe, economically viable, non-polluting, and nearly inexhaustible energy source. Building a fusion power plant for electricity production is the objective of nuclear fusion research. The fuel is a mix of two hydrogen isotopes: deuterium and tritium. This fuel is heated to 100 million degrees, thus generating a plasma in which the atomic nuclei fuse.

KIT has one of the world’s leading fusion laboratories along with the best equipment for studying and developing fusion technology. This includes the TOSKA low-temperature test facility for superconducting magnet coils and other technical components. The Karlsruhe Tritium Laboratory offers an infrastructure unique in Europe..

KIT develops indispensable technical components for nuclear fusion: superconducting magnet coils, microwave heater systems (gyrotrons), blankets for producing the tritium fuel and for energy extraction, and divertors for removing the helium “ash” and unspent fuel. In addition, there are developments of high-performance materials and components for the fuel cycle.

 

Fusion Projects

 

Fusion research at KIT is part of a variety of international and European large-scale projects: ITER, a large facility for testing technologies for nuclear fusion, is currently under construction in the south of France. At the same time, preparatory work is being conducted on the DEMO prototype power plant.