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Media Contacts
![Tungsten tiles for fusion](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-07/EBM-tungsten_tiles_ORNL.png?h=0c890573&itok=XgIsl0tA)
Using additive manufacturing, scientists experimenting with tungsten at Oak Ridge National Laboratory hope to unlock new potential of the high-performance heat-transferring material used to protect components from the plasma inside a fusion reactor. Fusion requires hydrogen isotopes to reach millions of degrees.
![An ORNL-developed graphite foam, which could be used in plasma-facing components in fusion reactors, performed well during testing at the Wendlestein 7-X stellarator in Germany.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-02/W7-XPlasmaExposure_0.jpg?h=d5d04e3b&itok=uKiauhdF)
Scientists have tested a novel heat-shielding graphite foam, originally created at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, at Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X stellarator with promising results for use in plasma-facing components of fusion reactors.
![David Kropaczek directs the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, a Department of Energy Innovation Hub headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. David Kropaczek directs the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, a Department of Energy Innovation Hub headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2016-P07859%5B2%5D%5B1%5D.jpg?itok=NRe8pBsS)
![Whistler_waves_ORNL Whistler_waves_ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/FES-2018-04-b-lrg.jpg?itok=cy5nSrPT)
![Pellet selector Pellet selector](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/Fusion%20pellet%20art%202.jpg?itok=4KhWRcQt)
When it’s up and running, the ITER fusion reactor will be very big and very hot, with more than 800 cubic meters of hydrogen plasma reaching 170 million degrees centigrade. The systems that fuel and control it, on the other hand, will be small and very cold. Pellets of frozen gas will be shot int...