ITER - the machine

ITER´s mission is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy. To do this, ITER will demonstrate extended energy production, essential fusion energy technologies in an integrated system, and perform testing of key elements required to use fusion as a practical energy source. ITER will be the first fusion device to produce net thermal power on a large scale.

ITER is based on the "tokamak" concept - a doughnut-shaped vessel surrounded by coils that produce an intense magnetic field -in which the conditions needed for fusion are created and maintained. The principles of confining a hot plasma with an intense magnetic field are described here. In ITER, all the magnetic coils are superconducting.

In order for the confined plasma to produce more energy than is needed to heat it, it needs to be hot enough, dense enough, and contained for long enough. To meet its objectives, ITER will be twice the size than the largest existing tokamak, JET, and its expected fusion performance will be many times greater. These extrapolations in size and physics performance provide the major challenges to the design of ITER.

More information on the ITER device can be found on the official ITER site.