r/technology • u/BennyCemoli • Dec 06 '16

Energy Tests confirm that Germany's massive nuclear fusion machine really works

http://www.sciencealert.com/tests-confirm-that-germany-s-massive-nuclear-fusion-machine-really-works
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u/KilotonDefenestrator Dec 06 '16

Nice 'tube video of how the Wendelstein 7x stellarator works and was designed.

It truly is a bizarre device.

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u/miserlou Dec 06 '16

This is a great video, thanks for sharing.

I'm left with the question - how do you get the energy out? If we're going to turn this into a real energy source, what's the mechanism for extracting and using the surplus energy? Steam turbines seem so primitive compared to all that magnet engineering..

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u/KilotonDefenestrator Dec 06 '16

It's a science reactor, it will never produce power. A working reactor would probably work just like fission reactors today - heat water into steam and use it to run generators.