IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERSTATE DEFLATIONARY PRESSURES:

The JET tokamak is the largest and most advanced magnetic fusion reactor currently operating. But the next generation of reactors is already in the works, most notably the ITER experiment, set to begin operations in 2027.

ITER - which is Latin for "the way" - is under construction in France and funded and directed by an international organization that includes the U.S.

ITER is going to put to use many of the material advances JET showed to be viable. But there are also some key differences. First, ITER is massive. The fusion chamber is 37 feet (11.4 meters) tall and 63 feet (19.4 meters) around - more than eight times larger than JET.

In addition, ITER will utilize superconducting magnets capable of producing stronger magnetic fields for longer periods of time compared to JET's magnets. With these upgrades, ITER is expected to smash JET's fusion records - both for energy output and how long the reaction will run.

ITER is also expected to do something central to the idea of a fusion powerplant: produce more energy than it takes to heat the fuel. Models predict that ITER will produce around 500 megawatts of power continuously for 400 seconds while only consuming 50 MW of energy to heat the fuel.

This means the reactor produced 10 times more energy than it consumed - a huge improvement over JET, which required roughly three times more energy to heat the fuel than it produced for its recent 59-megajoule record.

JET's recent record has shown that years of research in plasma physics and materials science have paid off and brought scientists to the doorstep of harnessing fusion for power generation. ITER will provide an enormous leap forward toward the goal of industrial-scale fusion power plants.

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