Of Interest archive

Are you a writer or an artist interested in fusion? Then the latest call of EUROfusion, the European consortium of national fusion research institutes, may be something for you. For the third time, EUROfusion invites creative minds to be inspired by all things fusion. Choose any of the eight provided topics and let your creativity on the loose. Winners will have their work published in the autumn edition of the magazine Fusion in Europe.

The eight topics include fusion as a must-have in the future energy mix; fusion as a benefit for you, us and society; fusion as a melting pot for different scientific fields; fusion as a driver of innovation, and a few others questions.

Consult EUROfusion to see all topics and more information on how to participate in this call. The deadline for the submission of proposals is 25 June.

"Clean Energy for all Europeans" is the theme of this year's Sustainable Energy Week. Over 3,000 politicians, stakeholders, civil society representatives and the media will gather in Brussels from 4-8 June to share ideas and look for solutions to address Europe's future energy needs. The ITER Project, which aims at complementing, globally, renewable energy sources with clean, safe and abundant fusion energy, is the focus of an afternoon session on 7 June.

Titled "ITER and fusion: towards a new source of energy on Earth," the event is specifically geared towards the interested non-specialist public. Representatives of the European Commission, ITER, EUROfusion and Fusion for Energy will introduce ITER as one of the most important global energy projects, its vital role in securing mankind's future energy supply and the current status of its construction.

A wide range of events, meetings and activities provide many occasions to get updates on matters related to sustainable energy including e-mobility, energy transition in urban spaces, innovative technology and energy efficiency for industry. At the networking village visitors can enjoy an energy fair, energy talks on topics related to the clean energy transition and an energy lab where ten projects will pitch in front of a panel of experts.

For more information on the Sustainable Energy Week, and to register, please visit the website.

The first plasma pulse for almost 18 months took place inside of the JET tokamak in early May.

The machine—the largest and most powerful tokamak in operation today—has been undergoing a revamp to act as a testbed for ITER technologies and plasma operating scenarios. JET is now equipped with an ITER-like beryllium and tungsten wall to study material-plasma interactions, additional heating power, and the ability to handle tritium. Experiments with tritium at JET—the first since the 1990s—will act as an important "dress rehearsal" in preparation for fusion operation at ITER.

Although not a full fusion plasma, achieving the 1.2 mega amp pulse is a key part of completing the JET restart and getting ready for further commissioning of the machine. The first experiments are expected to take place this year.

Read the full article on the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy's website.

Steven Cowley, a theoretical physicist and international authority on fusion energy, has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), effective July 1.

Cowley has served as president of Corpus Christi College and professor of physics at the University of Oxford since 2016. From 2008 through 2016, he was chief executive officer of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and head of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, which includes the Joint European Torus (JET) and Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) fusion facilities.

During his tenure at Culham, Cowley expanded and strengthened relations with other fusion programs in Europe and around the world, and served in key advisory roles for the U.K., U.S. and European governments.

As director of PPPL, Cowley will be responsible for managing all aspects of the laboratory, including its performance in science, engineering, operations, project management and strategic planning. He will lead PPPL's scientific and technical programs in fusion energy science and technology, as well as broader investigations in plasma science, and provide leadership to the U.S. and world fusion energy efforts.

 Read the original article on the PPPL website.

San Diego-based General Atomics (GA) has published a new app to help physicists work out the characteristics of plasmas on the fly. Called Plasmatica, it takes up to seven basic input parameters—ranging from magnetic field to electron temperature to ion mass factor—and outputs many fundamental properties of the plasma. The parameters are helpful to researchers because they describe intrinsic plasma behaviors, e.g., how often particles will collide with each other.

"Before this, most of us just would have written a little program on our computers to do these calculations, and in fact a bunch of us have them," said David Pace, the GA physicist who spurred the development of Plasmatica. "We thought it would be nice to give back to the research community by creating a standardized app that everyone can use when they're not at their computers. It's been exciting to get some initial feedback that is guiding us to a new round of improvements."

GA operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, the largest magnetic fusion facility operating in the U.S. and a world-renowned research center for plasma physics. Research time on DIII-D is extremely valuable—the facility can accept only about one out of every five experimental proposals—so having those calculations accessible on a mobile device can save precious minutes when researchers are trying to line up the next experiment.

The app, which incorporates two formularies commonly used by plasma physicists, has been tested by researchers and is getting solid reviews. Plasmatica is available for free in both the Android and Apple app stores.

The first Fusion in Europe of 2018 has been released. This quarterly magazine, published by the European consortium EUROfusion, keeps readers abreast of the faces, facilities and feats of the very dynamic fusion research community in Europe.

The latest issue offers articles on the experimental campaign underway at WEST (France), the 3D printing of small tungsten components, and plans for a neutron source oriented to DEMO (the machine after ITER).

You can read or download Fusion in Europe here.  

The Swiss Plasma Center at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has updated its Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) on plasma physics. Both courses are taught by renowned experts in the field and offer participants the opportunity to acquire basic knowledge about plasma physics and its applications.

Through four-week course on plasma physics you will acquire: a basic knowledge of plasma physics and the different models used to describe plasmas; an understanding of how to numerically simulate complex plasma dynamics; and a basic introduction to MATLAB programming through introductory videos and exercises.

The second, five-week course covers plasma physics applications in astrophysics, industry, medicine, nuclear fusion and laser-plasma interaction, and aims to highlight the challenge of developing fusion as an energy source, plasma applications in society, and the importance of plasma in space and astrophysics.

Visit the Swiss Plasma Center website for more information. Enrolment is continuous. 

ITER will procure the tritium fuel necessary for its expected 20-year lifetime from the global inventory. But for DEMO, the next step on the way to commercial fusion power, no sufficient external source of tritium exists. The successful development of tritium breeding—that is the generation within the fusion reactor of tritium fuel—is essential for the future of fusion electricity.

ITER will provide a unique opportunity to test mockups of breeding blankets, called Test Blanket Modules (TBM), in a real fusion environment. Six different tritium breeding concepts will be tested in dedicated ''ports'' in the ITER vacuum vessel.

Development is underway on two European test blanket systems for ITER. As part of the program, the European Domestic Agency is collaborating with Spanish firms CIEMAT and Empresarios Agrupados on a computer code that will predict the transport of tritium through the different components and materials of the test blanket system in ITER. Findings will contribute to the design of a breeding blanket for tritium self-sufficiency in DEMO.

Read the full article on the European Union Domestic Agency website.

--I.Ricapito manages the development of the computing code used to predict the tritium transport in the European test blanket systems.

All the steel material needed for the fabrication of the five European-procured sectors of the ITER vacuum vessel sectors has now been received by the European consortium. Five sub-contractors participated in the delivery of the latest batch—Acciaierie Valbruna (Italy), Forgiatura A. Vienna (Italy), Industeel (France), Rolf Kind GmbH (Germany) and ThyssenKrupp (Germany).

In all, vacuum vessel fabrication in Europe has required 1,120 tonnes of plates and 1,900 tonnes of forgings (metal blocks formed into various shapes through hot pressing techniques). A special grade of high quality stainless steel—exceptionally strong, corrosion-resistant, and weldable—has been chosen for this critical ITER component.

Read the full report on the European Domestic Agency website.

Representative Lamar Smith, Chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee*, has penned a recent op-ed in RealClearPolicy that urges US policy makers to uphold its commitment to ITER and to fully fund the fusion research program at the Department of Energy.

"To maintain America's global standing as the leader in science, we must meet our international commitments and support this basic research that will lead to transformative clean energy technologies."

Underfunding ITER, which he describes as a "critical step on the path to achieving commercial fusion energy," would jeopardize American leadership in fusion science. "...We cannot afford to lose our seat at the table. Nor can we expect to receive international support for our domestically built projects if we do not honour our international obligations."

Read the full op-ed here.

* The House Science, Space and Technology Committee oversees the Department of Energy's Office of Science, which includes the Fusion Energy Sciences program.

The Satellite Tokamak Program, JT-60SA, is a major modification of the existing JT-60U tokamak at the Naka Fusion Institute in Japan. Designed to support ITER, and to investigate how best to optimize the design and operation of fusion power plants built after ITER, the project is part of the Broader Approach Agreement signed between Japan and Euratom. First Plasma is planned in 2020.

Advanced assembly of the modified tokamak is underway now. The last vacuum vessel sector, pre-assembled with toroidal field coils and thermal shielding, was recently installed to complete the 360-degree torus.

See photos of the operation on the European Domestic Agency website.

Every year, the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society (EPS) grants up to four prizes to young scientists from the 38 EPS member states. The prize, which was created in 2005, is awarded for outstanding research achievements associated with PhD studies in the field of plasma physics. 

This year's four winners will be honoured during the opening ceremony of the 45th Conference on Plasma Physics, EPS 2018, which takes place in Prague, Czech Republic, from 2-6 July. In addition, the prize winning young physicists are given the opportunity to present their work at the conference.

One of last year's winners, Toon Weyens, is currently working at ITER under the Principality of Monaco/ITER Postdoctoral Fellowship program which supports fusion-related research efforts of early-career scientists. Weyens received the prestigious EPS PhD award in 2017 for his study of a key aspect of toroidal plasma stability, the effects of non-axisymmetric fields on peeling-ballooning stability.

A group of young fusion enthusiasts seems to be the first who managed to put the Sun in a box. In this case, though, the box is quite literal ... and contains a board game they invented to make learning about ITER easy and entertaining.

What will the ITER Tokamak weigh? What is the function of the breeding blankets? And at what temperature does the fusion reaction take place? Players are meant to work in teams to advance in this ITER version of Trivial Pursuit by answering these kinds of questions.

Just like with the original Trivial Pursuit, there are several categories of questions: design and technical aspects; thermonuclear physics; manufacturing and construction; safety, quality, security and regulations; project management; and general issues. Correctly answered questions are rewarded with small plastic tokens representing key structural components of the ITER machine.

As the game progresses, players collect the components to assemble a small 3D-printed model. The team that first completes its mini tokamak wins the game. And along the way all players gain a basic understanding of nuclear fusion and the ITER Project.

The board game was developed by a group of employees from Assystem, one of the companies in the consortium ENGAGE, the architect/engineer for ITER construction. Calling themselves Young Generation Fusion, they want to raise awareness about fusion energy and ITER by creating projects that attract the attention of a wide audience.

In April, they had the chance to present ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot with a copy of "Sun in a Box." They also present their creations at trade fairs and conferences.

--From left to right, Young Generation Fusioneers Eric Kruger, Clarisse Thouzeau, Guillaume Merriaux-Mansart and Gregory Thibault (Sebastien Lonjon and Camille Taberlet are not shown).

The 55th Culham Plasma Physics Summer School is open to applications.

The school will cover fundamental plasma physics, as well as important topics in fusion, astrophysical, laser and low temperature plasmas. Lecturers are drawn from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) together with leading European universities. All are renowned experts in their fields.

For more details and to apply please visit: https://culhamsummerschool.org.uk/

Discount for early registrations before 15 May.

The deadline for applications is 25 May.

Australian-born physicist Peter Thonemann died on 10 February 2018 at the age of 100. Thonemann was the leader of the ZETA fusion project when in 1958 it was famously—and wrongly—declared that it had achieved nuclear fusion.

Thonemann, whose family descended from German emigrants, was born in 1917 in Melbourne, Australia. To pursue an academic career in physics, he moved to Oxford, England, in 1944 and became one of the early researchers in nuclear fusion. As head of fusion research at Oxford and later at Harwell, England, Thonemann played a key role in the Zeta fusion project at the time when it made international headlines.

In January 1958, the announcement that the Zeta toroidal fusion device had achieved nuclear fusion was greeted with great enthusiasm. Less than four months later, the British scientists leading the project had to retract their earlier pronouncements. Although fusion research initially suffered from this setback, the Zeta episode helped drive the secrecy out of nuclear fusion research and create the foundation for scientific cooperation in this field across national boundaries. (See also the recent Newsline article on the Zeta affair)

Thonemann moved on to become deputy director of the Culham Laboratory in the mid-1960s, today home of JET, the Joint European Torus. A few years later, in 1968, he became professor for physics at what is today the University of Swansea, Wales. Late in life, Thonemann turned his scientific curiosity to biology and conducted research on the E. coli bacterium.

Please read the full obituary of The Sydney Morning Herald here.

Taiyô Tenno is a young Japanese student on a world tour of "art masterpieces"; Soléane is "a scientist at heart," presumably French, who speaks perfect Japanese. They meet at Cézanne's workshop in Aix-en-Provence and soon find themselves seated at the terrace of Les Deux Garçons, the town's most elegant café.

Soléane speaks Japanese because her work in "energy research" implies a lot of "professional dealings with Japan." Taiyô Tenno is impressed, especially when Soléane explains that her work is about "duplicating the energy-generating process in the Sun and stars"...

The first manga on ITER—"A small sun on Earth"—has just been published by ITER Japan and is available in Japanese, French and English.

Visit this website to download the manga.

The International Zvenigorod Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion is an annual rendezvous near Moscow for fusion research specialists from Russia and abroad. For one week in April, recent achievements in high and low temperature plasma research, the field of controlled fusion, and the development of plasma and beam technologies are presented through lectures, short talks and poster presentations.

Russian participation in the ITER Project was reported at the "ITER Project: Step to future energy" portion of the program under the direction of Anatoly Krasilnikov, director of the Russian Domestic Agency. Representatives of the research centres and the industrial companies involved in the procurement of ITER systems and components were present to report on the challenging technical specifications of the packages under Russian responsibility and the benefits of participation in ITER for the Russian research infrastructure overall.

More on the annual conference here.

--ITER Russia

Drawing inspiration from the robotic tasks that will be faced at ITER during installation and maintenance activities, the annual ITER Robots contest challenges students of different ages to imagine, design, and program Lego robots. Launched in 2012 by Agence Iter France and the ITER Organization, the program is growing every year.

As Newsline reported last June, the 2017 ITER Robots competition involved 600 students from 27 schools organized into 46 teams. This year, the competition will expand to about 70 teams and also offer a new program—ITER Robots Junior—for primary age students in 4th, 5th and 6th grade (12 additional teams). And who better to help design the new junior competition than 14-year-old Camylle Jordan, who spent one week as an intern in ITER's Remote Handling Section.

According to Jean-Pierre Martins, the ITER remote handling engineer who supervised Camylle, "she solved every issue she encountered in a pragmatic manner." In addition to becoming familiar with the complexity of the ITER Project, Camylle had to adapt her programming skills to work with a Thymio robot and to learn the basics of SolidWorks ®, a Computer Assisted Design tool.

The young intern left the ITER engineers impressed with her efficiency and confidence. She successfully tested the proposed curriculum and competition design, proactively suggesting and demonstrating ways to improve the robot mission. She participated in the official kick-off meeting of the ITER Robots Junior challenge, interacting with people from ITER, Agence Iter France and the French education system (Education Nationale). And she found time to fit in a tour of the ITER worksite and virtual reality room, and to give an on-camera Facebook interview to student journalists.

Most importantly, she documented her progress systematically, keeping a logbook of written records, photos, and videos, to ensure the contribution of her workweek at ITER would not be lost.

Bernard Bigot, Director-General of the world's biggest nuclear fusion project, tells Brussels-based Science|Business the perpetually out-of-reach energy source is finally in sight—so long as Trump does not scale back US involvement.

Read the article published on 15 March here.

A research team at Princeton University has succeeded in significantly improving the quality of disruption predictions for a plasma in a tokamak fusion device through deep learning.

The team led by plasma physicist William Tang had access to the database of the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak to demonstrate the potential of deep learning and neural networks in the analysis of large amounts of plasma disruption data. They fed more than a half-petabyte of information into their fusion recurrent neural nets (FRNN) deep learning software.

Through GPU-accelerated computing—i.e., the use of a graphic processing unit together with a CPU—disruption prediction improved dramatically in accuracy and speed. The Princeton team also demonstrated the scalability to over thousands of even more advanced GPUs.

According to Tang, this development holds a huge potential for accelerating scientific discovery through deep learning for fusion research.

Read the full article here.