Wendelstein 7-X—Status of the project and commissioning planning

The stellarator device Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is now in the final stage of assembly. All the machine components have been built and in mid 2014 the commissioning activities should start. The first objective of W7-X is to prove the stellarator optimization principles, i.e., to reach at least the same confinement quality as a similar sized tokamak. The second objective is to demonstrate stable high-power steady-state operation. In the present paper, after a short description of the device, the ongoing activities to complete the construction will be summarized, focusing on the optimization of the layout of the torus hall and on the completion and assembly of the in-vessel components. The main lessons learned during the assembly will be presented as well as the application of the quality control, the handling of non-conformities and the design change procedures. The planning of the commissioning sequences to perform the integral tests of the major W7-X systems is discussed in order to prepare the W7-X device to start plasma operation.