News – Page 7 – Fusion Group

2022 European Physical Society Innovation Award

April 6, 2022April 6, 2022

The European Physical Society (EPS) Plasma Physics Innovation Prize was established in 2008 to recognize and promote the wider benefits to society that arise from the applications of plasma physics research. The prize is awarded once a year and is managed by EPS Plasma Physics Division Board, where our group leader Prof. Mervi Mantsinen is a member since 2021.

This year, the EPS Plasma Physics Innovation Prize has been awarded to Dr Ane Aanesland, Dr Dmytro Rafalskyi and Javier Martínez Martínez for the technological, industrial and societal applications of research in plasma physics through their pioneering development of iodine-fueled plasma-based electric propulsion systems for satellites.

Introduction to Fusion Energy and Plasma Physics: Open Access Lectures from PPPL

March 28, 2022June 27, 2022

Last year the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) hosted its annual Introduction to Fusion Energy and Plasma Physics Course online. Open access to recorded lectures makes this an excellent resource for undergraduates, recent graduates, and anyone new to fusion research. The course was developed as part of the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program funded by the US Department of Energy.

HPC tool development for the design of HTS superconducting components for tokamak fusion systems

March 21, 2022May 30, 2022

The development of new Tokamak concepts based on a very high magnetic field gives rise to the possibility of a new generation of compact systems and creates the opportunity to approach a family of fusion systems beyond the state of the art and thereby initiate the transition from huge machines to smaller systems compatible with concepts such as distributed generation, with less impact on the environment.

In the development of fusion systems, in addition to the conceptual evolution of elements towards new options, such as the “liquid blanket” for example, it is necessary to introduce new materials and new technologies for the construction of suitable magnets to obtain sufficiently intense magnetic fields, since low-temperature superconducting (LTS) materials are not valid for operating at the 20T [1] level required for the new designs. The quality of cables based on LTS superconducting materials is very high, as are the coils based on them [2], but LTS materials are one of the limiting factors in achieving the field values required for the new generations of compact reactors with lower cost and lower impact.

Fusion likes breaking records!

March 14, 2022

Images of the different experimental fusion devices, from left to right: KSTAR, NIF, EAST.

On a previous post, we commented about the recent record achieved by the Joint European Torus (JET), in a unique set of D-T experiments. In this post, we would like to add several other records set by other fusion devices. In particular, we will be talking about the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR), the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) and the National Ignition Facility (NIF). By all means, we can say that the period from 2020 up to the near future, will be remembered as a period of success and milestone fulfillment in the fusion field.

A distinction should be made between KSTAR, EAST and NIF as the physical mechanism to reach nuclear fusion is different. While KSTAR and EAST are two superconducting tokamaks, i.e. they rely on superconducting magnets which constraint the plasma shape and dynamics, NIF is a fusion device consisting of several lasers which heat and compress a small amount of a hydrogen (or an isotope as deuterium) pellet. Both mechanisms are known in the fusion field as, magnetic confinement fusion and intertial confinement fusion, respectively. Let’s now have a look at their respective records.

PRACE Advanced Training Centres’ (PATC) courses and events

March 4, 2022March 4, 2022

The PRACE (the Partnership for Advanced Computing) is a cooperation between supercomputing centres in Europe, with the membership of

The PRACE organises educational and training events targeting both the scientific and industrial communities, with the cooperation of further institutes. Our research centre is one of the PRACE Advanced Training Centres (PATC), which offers and coordinates training and educational activities.

JET brings the power of the Sun closer to Earth

February 25, 2022February 25, 2022

News on the JET record (credit: EUROfusion).

We have been talking in our earlier blog posts (here and here) about the relevance of the deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel mixture in a magnetic confinement fusion device, such as a tokamak. The intrinsic property that makes this mixture so interesting is the higher fusion cross section as compared to other ion combinations at a relatively “low” energy (around 100 keV which is already 10 times the temperature of the centre of the Sun). In other words, D-T maximizes the number of fusion reactions, which is after all, what we are looking for.

The Joint European Torus (JET) has recently finished its second D-T campaign (DTE2 as we refer to it in more technical contexts), and the results could not have been better. This culminates a huge effort from the nuclear fusion community which makes the way towards the success of ITER smoother.