The stellerator as a fusion power plant

On May 24, 1996, an administrative agreement on the foundation of the Greifswald Part Institute of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) was signed between the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Federal States of Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. This agreement ensures funding and construction of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator fusion experiment. The project is part of international fusion research although Germany, for cost reasons, no longer participates in the competition for the site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). IPP has been running large stellarator experiments at Garching since 1976. This does not mean, however, that research into the other main fusion principle, the tokamak, was neglected. In both cases, activities serve to allow nuclear fusion to be used for energy generation. (orig.)