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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BSC at Fusion Materials Meeting

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On June 7-9, the BSC researchers Georg Huhs, Stephan Mohr and Mervi Mantsinen from the CASE department participated in a EUROfusion meeting on fusion materials. Their presentation on Recent advances in large-scale atomistic materials modeling at Barcelona Supercomputer Center was well received. The meeting was organized by Prof. María José Caturla at the University of Alicante, Spain.

Materials research is a key topic for the European and worldwide fusion research programme as the technological feasibility of fusion energy depends on the availability of materials that are capable of withstanding the operational conditions of fusion reactors.

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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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Launch of National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade at Princeton

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Last Friday, 20 May 2016, was a historic day at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).  It was a day that the $94-million upgrade to National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX-U), which took almost four years to build, was officially launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz.

Funded by the DOE Office of Science, NSTX-U addresses how to create fusion, the process that powers the Sun, on Earth, in a device based on the spherical tokamak concept.

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