News

Celebrating 40 Years of ICRF Physics on JET: Key Insights and Lessons for Future Fusion Devices

Mervi Mantsinen during her talk “40 Years of ICRF Physics on the JET Tokamak: Highlights and Lessons Learned for Future Facilities” at the 25th Topical Conference on Radio-Frequency Power in Plasmas. Photo credits: H. Faugel (IPP)

The 25th Topical Conference on Radio-Frequency Power in Plasmas took place from 19 to 22 May 2025 and attracted more than 130 participants. Our group leader, Mervi Mantsinen, delivered an invited talk at this conference reviewing key milestones from four decades of Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) physics on the Joint European Torus (JET), highlighting its significant contributions to fusion research and implications for future reactors.

JET, Europe’s leading tokamak device, has achieved exceptional performance surpassing its design specifications, operating with magnetic fields of up to 4 T, plasma currents of 7 MA, and auxiliary heating powers totalling 37 MW. Its versatile ICRF system, with a frequency range of 25–56 MHz, has enabled a wide array of heating and current drive experiments.

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JOREK code meeting in Naples

Pizzofalcone lookout, Naples, just above the meeting location.

From May 12 to 16, the 2025 JOREK general meeting was held in Naples, Italy. Nicola Isernia and colleagues from the Federico II University of Naples organized the logistics for hosting the meeting. The meeting was held in the Federico II Congress Center, via Partenope, 36, just in front of the sea and below the wonderful lookout of Pizzofalcone and very close to the historical city center of Naples.

From our research group, Federico Cipolletta, participated in the event to share the work he performed in the JOREK code.

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A new Master student has joined our group

Our research group welcomes Juan Manuel Sanchez Melian as a new Master’s student to carry out his MSc thesis research project in our Fusion group. His six-month internship will give him the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of working with one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, the MareNostrum 5. Furthermore, his research will focus on the timely and critical topic of nuclear fusion.

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Fusion Group at the CASE Open Day

A few days ago, the Open Day of the Computer Applications in Science and Engineering Department (CASE) at  the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) brought together students and experts to explore the power of high performance computing (HPC) and its impact on cutting-edge research. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to interact with the CASE researchers, experience the vibrant diversity of BSC, and imagine what their future in HPC and science at BSC could be.

Our group leader, Mervi Mantsinen, and master’s student intern, Irene Agudo, actively participated in this event. Their involvement highlighted the growing role of women in science and HPC, and inspired the next generation of researchers to pursue careers in HPC and scientific discovery.

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New fusion plasma duration world record

WEST Operations Room during the record (Photo: CEA)

On February 12, the French experimental reactor WEST (W-Tungsten Environment in Steady-State Tokamak), one of the EUROfusion consortium medium size Tokamak facilities, set a new world record by sustaining plasma stability for 1337 seconds—over 22 minutes. This milestone, announced by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), marks a significant step because maintaining plasma stability for extended periods is one of the most significant obstacles in bringing fusion power to commercial viability.

This new record surpasses the previous benchmark set by China’s EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak), which managed to sustain plasma for 1066 seconds on January 20. WEST’s world record has exceeded the recent achievement of the Chinese reactor by 25%.

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