World’s largest nuclear melt reactor comes into operation in Japan

2023-12-01 18:00:00

Currently considered the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world, the JT-60SA was officially inaugurated this Friday (1st) north of Tokyo, Japan. The equipment will be used by researchers to make nuclear fusion a viable source of energy .

The new JT-60SA reactor is donut-shaped that can heat plasma to 200 million degrees Celsius. The equipment was activated for the first time in October for some tests on the equipment project, but it only came into full operation now.


The superconducting tokamak was built with support from the European Union. The reactor must test its technologies so that they can be applied to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is under construction in France.

It is worth mentioning that nuclear fusion is the reaction that powers our Sun and other stars and, although it is capable of generating enormous amounts of energy, scientists have not yet managed to make the process energy efficient on Earth.

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Fusion is a thermonuclear reaction that causes two light atomic nuclei to fuse into a heavier nucleus, generating enormous amounts of energy in the process. O JT-60SA will demonstrate whether it is possible to produce a net amount of energy.

However, the JT-60SA should lose the position of largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world to ITER. Scientists believe that ITER it will be capable of burning plasma and then carrying out total nuclear fusion by 2035, being essential for research.

In turn, the JT-60SA must provide important information to show the path to be followed by ITER, being a kind of guinea pig. A company Fusion for Energy is making the European Union’s contributions to ITER.

What happens here today will be important tomorrow for fusion’s contribution to a carbon-free energy mix. The JT-60SA is critical to the international fusion roadmap because it offers a unique possibility to learn, operate this unique fusion device and share this valuable knowledge with ITER.

Marc Lachaise, director of Fusion for Energy, during the JT-60SA inauguration speech

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