The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is now in operation

Re:The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is no... by detaro on Thursday December 10, 2015 @02:57PM (#10712988)

I think one important price factor is that this is "only" a plasma containment experiment and will only run Helium and Hydrogen, not the Deuterium-Tritium-mixture needed for energy-generating fusion.

This means it generates way less neutron radiation, which in turn means less need for shielding and easier working conditions on and close to the machinery, avoids material degradation, ...

Also, if I understand German sources correctly the 370 million doesn't include wages of the people working there (maybe external construction contractors, but not the effort by MPI personnel). (EDIT: found a quote of ~1 billion EUR as cost for the entire project since 1995)

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Re:The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is no... by k4l3 on Thursday December 10, 2015 @03:09PM (#10713085)

Good call on the actual price. Still 1/13th the current cost of the not-yet-operational ITER... Makes me wonder if the stellerator concept will be more feasible in the long run.

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Re:The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is no... by fabian2k on Thursday December 10, 2015 @03:24PM (#10713182)

I don't think you can draw any conclusions from comparing the price of Wendelstein 7-X and ITER. ITER is much larger than Wendelstein, it looks like the magnets in ITER are roughly 10 times as heavy, so ITER needs much more material than Wendelstein.

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Re:The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is no... by lmm on Thursday December 10, 2015 @05:29PM (#10714050)

This is an earlier-stage demonstration than ITER. A fairer comparison would be with the cost of JET.

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