On 14 October, the Spanish National Fusion Strategy Planning Meeting was held at the CDTI headquarters in Madrid. The meeting brought together most of the fusion stakeholders in the Spanish fusion ecosystem, from research institutions such as CIEMAT or BSC to companies in the fusion sector. With all the relevant advances in fusion that have accelerated the path towards its commercialisation, many countries are either reviewing or creating their own strategy. This was therefore a very timely meeting to define the role that Spain intends to play in the near future, at a time when private investors and industry are closer than ever to fusion.
The meeting consisted of a series of presentations by members of research centres and companies to highlight our capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. The discussion focused on Spain’s role in some of the hot topics in fusion, such as neutronics, high temperature superconducting magnets, reactor design and computational modelling of fusion physics. Our team members Dr Mervi Mantsinen and Dr Dani Gallart gave a presentation entitled: “Challenges in massive data analysis and simulation: HPC and IA”.
At the end of the meeting, participants shared their thoughts and agreed on next steps. Several working groups focusing on different aspects of fusion technology will be set up to further develop the national strategy and decide on the best way forward. Our BSC fusion group looks forward to participating in several of these groups.
It is clear that Spain will continue to provide high quality scientific and industrial contributions, as it has done in the past in the field of fusion.