Highly commended: PlasmaSurf Summer School 2016

ISTTOK tokamak

Our Fusion group member Carles Riera took part in the PlasmaSurf Summer School 2016, held in Oeiras (Portugal) from 10-15 July, 2016. There he had a chance to learn about Plasma Physics and Lasers from several professors lecturing at Instituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear.

Apart from the theoretical classes and various outdoor activities, the students had the chance to visit the ISTTOK tokamak and the Laboratory for Intense Lasers.

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Barcelona Supercomputing Center in the Top500 list

 

The TOP500 project lists twice a year the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world. The objective of the list is to observe trends in technology related to High Performance Computing and enlighten, ultimately, the importance of supercomputation to the development of Science and Engineering.

The MareNostrum supercomputer hosted by Barcelona Supercomputer Center occupies the position 106 in the TOP500 list this year.

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Call for Proposals for EUROfusion Researcher Grants

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Previous Awardees of EUROfusion Researcher Grants (Source: EUROfusion).

The call to send in proposals for the next round of EUROfusion Researcher Grants has been published. The deadline is 8 September 2016, and the start date of the grant of the succesful candidates is no later than on the 30 June 2017.

The action supports the initial training of researchers, typically during the first years of their careers in research. It is directed towards researchers of all nationalities, who meet the following criteria:

  • Researchers in possession of a doctoral degree (PhD) who have completed their PhD and defended their thesis in the two years preceding the deadline for proposal submission of the present call;
  • Engineers/technicians, not having a PhD degree, but who are in possession of a master degree in Engineering (or any equivalent university degree in Engineering) with a professional experience of at least 3 years up to 5 years after the master degree.

Detailed information is available for download can be found here.

Please contact our Fusion Group Leader Mervi Mantsinen if you are interested in preparing an application with Barcelona Supercomputing Center as your host institute.

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First computer simulation of a novel tokamak start up technique

National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U)

Physicist Dr Fatima Ebrahimi from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has carried out first computer simulations to evaluate the efficiency of  a start-up mechanism known as coaxial helicity injection (CHI),  of doughnut-shaped fusion machines such as tokamaks. The approach simulated by Dr Ebrahimi could also benefit devices that use superconducting magnets.

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#IAmAPhysicist

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On Thursday, May 26th, the Institute of Physics (IOP) released a campaign on Twitter to break down the stereotype of what a physicist looks like.

The objective of the movement is to help the non-scientific community to better understand that there is no mainstream physicist, and that there is a wide range of jobs a physicist can do, from finance (econophysics) to healthcare (medical physics).

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Way forward for the ITER Plant Simulator

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Present nuclear power plants make use of robust plant simulators capable of simulating the plant operation. In addition, these plant simulators are able to model possible accidents that could occur in a real situation. In this way operators can be instructed and acquire all the skills that they are going to need in the development of their job. Of course we are talking about “fission” nuclear power plants.

But what about “fusion” nuclear power plants?

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