Part 4/9:
- Magnetic Confinement: Here, fusion is sustained through the manipulation of plasma—created by ionizing hydrogen fuel—using magnetic fields. This method is favored for long-term reactor designs, with structures like tokamaks and stellarators playing essential roles in current research. In tokamaks, powerful electromagnets generate a magnetic bottle to hold and compress the plasma.
The Tokamak: A Focus on Magnetic Confinement
The tokamak is the leading design for magnetic confinement and utilizes a series of magnet systems. The toroidal magnets create a donut shape to confine the plasma, while poloidal magnets assist in shaping and stabilizing the plasma near its inner wall to enhance reaction rates. The central solenoid directs the flow of plasma.