Plasma vessel
Although the plasma is confined by a magnetic field, it has to be produced in a vessel, which prevents both admission of air and escape of fuel.
![Part of the plasma vessel during fabrication](/4324179/original-1568277920.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjQzMjQxNzl9--4d998d062dc91a7a247423fa407e04bbc1dfcc7c)
Small amounts of incoming air would already immediately extinguish a burning plasma. The vessel has to be vacuum-tight and capable of being pumped down to a pressure of less than 10-8 millibar, i.e. ultrahigh vacuum.
To withstand the high loads due to pressure and magnetic forces that can be caused by locally induced currents, it is primarily high-grade steel that serves as vessel material. For measuring, heating and control facilities the vessel requires numerous apertures and ports. Wendelstein 7-X, for example, has 300 such apertures, which are brazed to the vessel vacuum-tight or connected by metal flanges.