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A comment on Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next phase of operation [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next ph... by vilhelm_s on Friday April 28, 2017 @03:00PM (#14222103)
The smallest scale is basically the same as for tokamaks (the advantage is that you can operate a stellarator continuously, while a tokamak is pulsed which may be less convenient for power generation).

The scale is mostly limited by magnetic field strength. With ordinary superconducting magnets they get pretty big (the planned ITER reactor will weigh 5,116 tonnes). Some people say that new high-temperature superconductors will enable stronger magnets and hence smaller reactors (http://news.mit.edu/2017/brandon-sorbom-designing-fusion-fut...).

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Re:Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next ph... by mozumder on Sunday April 30, 2017 @12:42PM (#14232380)
looking more into this, it looks like the minimum size limit is the wall that absorbs the free neutrons from the De-Tr reactions. It looks like it'll always be some minimum size due to the energy of the released neutrons.
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