The Vacuum Vessel

The vacuum vessel holds the ultra-high vacuum the plasma needs and forms the first safety boundary — sitting between plasma and magnets.

Job

Maintain the plasma's ultra-high vacuum

Position

Between the plasma and the magnets

Role

First structural and safety boundary

Access

Enabled by demountable magnets

The vacuum vessel is the sealed chamber that holds the ultra-high vacuum a fusion plasma requires — any stray gas would cool and contaminate it. It sits just outside the plasma-facing components and inside the magnets, and it forms the first structural and safety boundary of the machine, containing the plasma region and everything that happens in it.

In Kronos MetroVolt the vessel must also accommodate the exhaust and pumping that remove helium ash, the ports for heating and diagnostics, and maintenance access — which is one reason the demountable magnets matter, since they let the vessel be reached without dismantling the whole coil set.