Yet again, a new fusion energy record from JET!

Artistic image of humanity harnessing the power of the sun. Generated with AI.

The Joint European Torus (JET) already reached the world fusion energy record back in December 2021, but as if that were not enough, it has done it yet again, two years later, during December 2023 with 69 megajoules using a mere 0.2 milligrams of fuel, beating the previous record of 59 megajoules. This is roughly the energy needed for a hairdryer to work for 10 hours nonstop. The importance of this new feat stems from the evident new knowledge that the fusion community has acquired in recent times that has allowed for such a steady advancement in the field.  

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Workshop on Nuclear Fusion: initiatives towards DEMO

Presentation of the BSC Fusion Group in the CIEMAT workshop.

On February 29, in the CIEMAT headquarters in Madrid (Spain), a Workshop entitled “Fusión nuclear: iniciativas hacia DEMO” was organized by CIEMAT, CDTI, and Ineustar/Induciencia in close collaboration with IFMIF-DONES, UNED, University of Sevilla (US) and Technical University of Madrid (UPM). Alejandro Soba and Dani Gallart from our research group attended this event.

The main objectives of the workshop were to encourage public-private collaboration initiatives in the field, analyze Spain’s strengths in the different key technologies and discuss the plans for the future DEMO reactor.

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Our new journal paper in Nuclear Fusion on modeling of frequency-sweeping Alfvén modes

Alfvénic instabilities driven by energetic particles pose a challenge to the efficient operation of magnetic confinement fusion devices. These modes can dispel fast ions leading to the introduction of significant heat loads onto plasma facing components and degradation of overall plasma confinement. One class of Alfvénic instabilities known as reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes (RSAEs) are of particular risk in devices with reversed shear rotational transform profiles. Reversed shear configurations have recently been of interest because of their enhancement to confinement quality. With this in mind, further study of RSAEs is necessary.

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JOREK code meeting at EPFL with a visit to Swiss Plasma Center

Group picture of in-person attendees at the EPFL site

From 12/02/2024 to 16/02/2024, the 2024 JOREK code meeting was held at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, organized with the support of Cristian Sommariva and Mengdi Kong from the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), adopting a hybrid format. The meeting was greatly appreciated by the large community of code users and developers, with over 60 registered people, of which 30 were in-person.

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Two new Master students have joined our group

The year 2024 has started with the opportunity for two new Master students to carry out their MSc thesis research projects in our Fusion group. Their internships will last between six and eight months during which they will be able to have a first-hand experience with one of the most powerful supercomputers worldwide, the MareNostrum 5, in a hot timely topic such as nuclear fusion.

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