News

Collaborating with CIEMAT and Aalto University on modelling of fast ions in TJ-II stellarator

Sadig Mulas (left) and Joona Kontula (right) at MareNostrum4.

From 22 July to 2 August, we enjoyed the visits of two PhD students, Sadig Mulas and Joona Kontula from CIEMAT and Aalto University, respectively, to our group. Sadig and Joona came to work with us within the collaboration between the three institutions (CIEMAT – Aalto University – BSC) on numerical modelling of fast ions in the TJ-II stellarator. The TJ-II stellarator is an experimental fusion device is located at the CIEMAT headquarters in Madrid, Spain, which uses fast ions injected by neutral beam injection to heat the plasma.

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Experiments in full swing on Joint European Torus

Control room experimental team following attentively the various displays showing measured key quantities in real time during one of the M18-05 experimental discharges carried out last Thursday.

The EUROfusion experimental campaign at the Joint European Torus (JET) located at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), UK is in full swing.

Last week our group leader Mervi Mantsinen and our La Caixa-funded PhD student Dani Gallart visited JET to participate in this campaign. Our focus was in on-site preparation, execution and first analysis of two sessions of the experiment M18-05 “ICRH scenario support in D and T plasmas” for which Mervi is one of the two scientific coordinators. This means that she is in charge of the scientific planning of this experiment and the coordination of its international team of approximately 45 scientists from various institutions all over Europe.

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High temperature superconductivity beats the record high DC magnetic field ever reached

This ‘little big coil’, the size of a half-pint, allowed achieving the highest direct-current magnetic field of 45.5 T. From MagLab website.

The third coil in a series of High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) coils known as ‘little big coils’ (LBC) has enabled the highest direct-current magnetic field to date at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab), United States. This last coil which barely weighs 400 grams generated a field of 14.4 T while able to retain the superconducting state in a background field of 31.1 T created by a resistive magnet, thus reaching the highest field ever registered of 45.5 T.

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Thrilled by PlasmaSurf Summer School

Following the yearly tradition established over the past seven years, the Portuguese Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN), located in Lisbon, Portugal, organized the PlasmaSurf 2019 summer school in plasma physics, intense lasers and nuclear fusion from the 14th to the 21st of July. This year two members of our group, Jordi Manyer and Ignacio López de Arbina, were among the lucky applicants accepted to attend the school. Jordi’s participation was further sponsored by FuseNet, which we gratefully acknowledge.

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China launches the series production of HTS current leads for ITER

Pair of current leads (in/out) at ASIPP (Photo: ITER)

High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) current leads are a key technology of the ITER magnet system, transmitting the huge currents (up to 68 kA) from the power supplies at room temperature to the low temperature superconducting coils installed in the fusion reactor. ITER’s large coils will need 60 current leads located at the end of the magnet feeders, thus operating in a lower magnetic field and reducing the heat load compared to conventional current leads. In fact, the higher cost of HTS current leads is by far compensated by the savings in the operation of the cryoplant.

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