Of Interest archive

The second edition of the FuseNet Master Event will take place on Tuesday 22 November 2022. The event will be held fully online on the Gathertown platform. All master's students in fusion-related fields are invited to join the event.

The day is filled with interesting talks by top scientists, introductions to fusion start-ups and ITER-related companies, and chances to meet your fellow students. Are you currently a fusion or plasma physics master student, or are you starting next academic year? Looking for an opportunity to meet the community and learn more about this fascinating subject? This event is for you.

More information on the program can be found on the registrations page. See you there!

"The ITER control system performs the functional integration of the ITER plant and enables integrated and automated operation."

With the ninth talk in the series, we have the opportunity to take a deep dive into a less familiar part of the ITER Project—integrated control. Without it, the vast plant and the machine itself couldn't operate. System by system, what are the requirements? How has the overall architecture been designed? What protocols are respected by the software? What special role for the safety control system? And finally, what is the status on site?

Anders Wallander—Head of the ITER Controls Division—is our guide to "the brain of ITER."

Watch the ninth episode of ITER Talks here.

See the full ITER Talks playlist on YouTube here.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority is accepting applications now through 16 December 2022 for its Fusion Research Fellowships. These aim to appoint outstanding scientists or engineers who have recently completed (or will soon complete) a doctorate to a two-year research fellowship in any field of fusion research. Fellowships start in summer of 2023 and can be based at either UKAEA's Culham or Rotherham site.

For more details and to apply, see https://careers.ukaea.uk/job/ukaea-fusion-research-fellow/.  Any queries, please contact Chris Warrick at chris.warrick@ukaea.uk. 

Following the appointment of Pietro Barabaschi as Director-General of the ITER Organization, the Governing Board of the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy (F4E) has appointed his replacement. Mr Barabaschi had been Acting Director of Fusion for Energy since June 2022. 

Jean-Marc Filhol is the new Fusion for Energy Director ad interim beginning 16 October 2022 and until the formal appointment of the new Director.

In thanking the members of the Governing Board for their trust, Jean-Marc Filhol highlighted his priorities for this interim period: "I will work together with the rest of the Senior Team to ensure a smooth operation of F4E and preserve a peaceful working environment for all staff, to support the new ITER Organization Director-General in the restructuring of the ITER project and the integration of ITER Organization and F4E, and to prepare the ground for the new F4E Director."

A French national, Mr Filhol has been with F4E since August 2011 and has occupied several senior management positions as Head of ITER Department and Head of ITER-Programme Department. In his role of European Domestic Agency representative in the ITER project since 2015, he has represented F4E to the ITER Organization and Domestic Agencies, in the Executive Project Board, and at other ITER governance bodies.

See the original report at Fusion for Energy.

On Tuesday 18 October 2022, the London Science Museum will host FUSION22: The World Needs Fusion Energy. This hybrid event, which can be attended on line or in person, will showcase the incredible developments taking place in fusion all over the world. 

Why do we need fusion energy? How will fusion change the world? What is the path to commercial fusion? What innovations are needed? What benefits from fusion R&D and spinoff technologies for your business? What does investing in fusion look like? (See the full agenda here.)

"Whether you're coming to fusion energy for the first time or have been involved in its development since the beginning, you'll find engaging, thought provoking and insightful sessions to fit your needs," say the organizers of the event. 

The event is free. See this website to register to attend on line.

The European Fusion Education Network, FuseNet, is organizing its third annual European Fusion Teacher Day on 14 October 2022. Open to all secondary school science and physics teachers in Europe, the fully virtual event aims to introduce educators to nuclear fusion and demonstrate how the subject can be taught in school. The ultimate goal is to increase exposure of students to the subject at the secondary level in order to spark interest and enthusiasm in the field.

Because the event is open to educators across Europe, the half-day program begins with local sessions via Zoom on what is going on in the field of fusion in your geographical zone. After the local sessions, participants will come together for a global livestream with presentations by keynote speakers and the distribution of free educational resources. The ITER Organization is one of the featured participants during the global livestream. 

Participation is free and registration is open now. Register before 1 October here.

On 19 September, the European Commission revealed the winners of the 2022 edition of the SOFT Innovation Prize. This prize, awarded at the 32nd Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT2022), gives recognition to outstanding researchers or industries who have found innovative ideas or proposed new solutions in fusion research.

This year's winners are:

First prize (€50,000): GRATUL (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Forschungszentrum Jülich) for the development of plasma sprayed, functionally graded tungsten/EUROFER coating as protective for the first wall of future fusion power plants. This technology was successfully transferred to industry, achieving a new record in coating large first wall mockups. The functional grading, which led to outstanding heat flux resistance, opens up the potential deployment of this innovation in other components of fusion technology, in high-voltage components, and in the concentrated solar power sector.

Second prize (€30,000): D1SUNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED) for the development of an improved radiation transport code for dose rate evaluation in fusion application. Due to their high energy, fusion neutrons are penetrating deeply in the facility producing direct and indirect radiation fields whose evaluation is a challenging task. The D1SUNED provides a powerful tool to calculate and analyze these radiation fields required for safety and radioprotection studies that must be addressed properly during the design phase to secure successful licensing.

Third prize (€20,000): Dia Disk (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Diamond Materials GmbH) for the development of diamond window technology in high-power microwave applications as a vacuum barrier and confinement barrier for hazardous materials. The achieved higher disk diameter results in a substantially increased energy efficiency of the deposition process of diamond.

See the full announcement here.

On 15 September 2022, the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a "Hearing on the Federal Government's Role in Supporting the Commercialization of Fusion Energy."

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Joe Manchin, had visited the ITER Project in France in March 2022. He opened the meeting by evoking the visit, saying that it left him "profoundly reflective of the potential of [fusion] technology to transform our energy future." The purpose of the hearing was to hear from a panel of experts on what they are doing to bring this "exciting technology" to fruition and to ask: What can the federal government do to help?

On the witness panel was: Dr Scott Hsu, Lead Fusion Coordinator, Office of the Undersecretary for Science and Innovation, Department of Energy; Professor Steven Cowley, Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Dr. Tim Luce, Chief Scientist and Head of the Science & Operation Domain at the ITER Organization; Dr. Bob Mumgaard, CEO and Co-Founder, Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

You can watch the archived webcast here.

You can access the testimony of Tim Luce here.

The 32nd annual Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) has opened in the Croatian city Dubrovnik. 

The biennial symposium on fusion technology is the most important conference in the field in Europe, bringing together scientists, engineers, industry representatives and exhibitors from all over the world and focusing on the latest developments in fusion experiments and activities. SOFT includes invited, oral and poster presentations, as well as industry and R&D exhibitions.

SOFT 2022 is organized by the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) from 18-23 September in a hydrid format. ITER's Alain Bécoulet, Head of the Engineering Domain, opened the first plenary session on Monday 19 September with a talk on the status of ITER procurement and assembly. During a satellite event in the afternoon, the SOFT 2022 Industry Day, numerous business opportunities in fusion for European industry were presented by representatives of the ITER Organization, Fusion for Energy (F4E), EUROfusion, and the Consorcio IFMIF-DONES España.

The ITER Organization is present throughout the week with the ITER stand. In this photo, the newly appointed ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi (right) is at the stand with Alain Bécoulet.

See the conference website for more about SOFT 2022.

Sergio Orlandi's mastery of Latin—a language he considers "more perfect than mathematics"—proved precious when, on 15 September, he was awarded an Honorary Professorship from the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland.

In Poland, Latin is the language universities use in such circumstances. The Rector of the University pronounced his speech in Latin, Sergio's laudation was issued in Latin, and it is in Latin that the Head of the ITER Plant Construction Department responded.

What connects Sergio and the University of Life Sciences in Lublin is his experience in the nuclear field and his reflexion on sustainable energy as a member of the European Academy of Science and Arts, and as the Dean of the Academy's Technical and Environmental Science commission. His experience in the construction of Chernobyl's "sarcophagus" following the nuclear plant's 1986 accident, and also in the management of the liquid waste from the devastated reactors was also an important factor in the connexion between the nuclear engineer and the university. Lublin is located 600 kilometres from the site of the accident, and Poland is understandably quite concerned by the fallout that ensued.

In Lublin, switching from Latin to English, Sergio gave a talk titled "Flying into Nuclear Fission and Fusion Technologies in the Short and Medium Term." He will soon be back to Latin and to his favourite bedside book—Ovid's Metamorphoses.

School is back in session in France! And at the International School of Manosque, students in the Chinese Section are the beneficiaries of a new set of textbooks thanks to the generosity of the Chinese Domestic Agency, which shipped ten boxes of books and materials in time for the new school year.

Andrew Crusoe takes the listeners of the ASCENDANT podcast on site at ITER in August to explore the power and potential of fusion, and find out how ITER is posed "to create technology that will allow an abundance of clean, renewable energy."

ITER Communication's Sabina Griffith explains how interest in fusion got started, why it stalled after the oil crises of the 1970s, and why it is so important. Is fusion energy the key to our green, renewable future?

You can listen to the 45-minute podcast "Live at ITER: A Sun in a Bottle & The Way to Our Fusion Future" (ASCENDANT podcast 1:13) at this link.

Registration for the 15th International Workshop on Beryllium Technology (BeWS-15) and the 9th Industrial Forum on Beryllium Opportunities & New Developments (BeYOND-IX) closes this week on Wednesday 31 August. See this link for all information.

The workshops are organized by Kartlsruhe Institute of Technology and will be held in conjunction with the 32nd SOFT-2022, which is taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 18 to 23 September 2022 (https://soft2022.eu). Sessions on fusion blanket design, breeder/mulitplier materials, and risks and regulations are planned as part of the program.

See all information here.

On 3 August 2022, the last of 14 trucks of Russian electrotechnical equipment was delivered to ITER at the DAHER warehouse in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, where mid-sized components are stored pending their transfer to the ITER site.

The delivery included a large number of high-current DC busbars (photo), which provide power supply to the ITER magnet system superconducting coils and are designed for long-term flow of direct current at 55 kA. In addition, DC switches, energy-dissipating resistors, and elements of control and cooling systems were part of the shipment. All of the equipment is destined for one of ITER's most crucial systems—power supply, without which it would be impossible to reach First Plasma. 

The material represented the 25th delivery of electrotechnical equipment developed and manufactured at the Efremov Institute (NIIEFA) in Saint Petersburg on behalf of the ROSATOM State Corporation. The manufacturing is being carried out under the terms of the Procurement Arrangement for switching networks, fast discharge units, DC busbars and instrumentation, concluded in 2011 between the ITER Organization and Russian Domestic Agency. 

--ITER Russia

On Tuesday 18 October 2022, the London Science Museum will host FUSION22: The World Needs Fusion Energy. This hybrid event, which can be attended on line or in person, will showcase the incredible developments taking place in fusion all over the world. 

"Whether you're coming to fusion energy for the first time or have been involved in its development since the beginning, you'll find engaging, thought provoking and insightful sessions to fit your needs," say the organizers of the event. Events planned throughout the day include: "What Fusion Needs: Solutions To Technical Challenges,"How Will Fusion Make The Transition To An Industry?" and "The Energy Jigsaw: Where Does Fusion Fit Into The Future Energy Mix?"

The event is free. See this website to register.

--© Science Museum

The Big Science Business Forum (BSBF 2022) is a business oriented congress planned in Granada (Spain) from 4 to 7 October 2022. All the principal European research infrastructures will be present for a forum that aims to be the main meeting point between research infrastructure and industry.

This will be the second edition of the event after the success of the previous edition in Copenhagen, with more than 1,000 participants from 500 organizations and 29 countries in attendance.

Registration is still open at this address.

On 4 October, a side event—Woman in Science—will provide a platform where public organizations and industries operating in Big Science can share the experience, lessons learned and best practices on policies to increase the participation of women. It will also offer the participants a framework for networking.

The roundtable will conclude with the presentation of the Awards on Best Practices to recognize the efforts of companies and organizations toward improving gender equality in the work environment at different levels. To learn more about the award and modalities to apply, click here. The deadline is 18 September 2022 at 12:00 CET.

The French YouTuber and scientific populizer Dimitri Ferrière, alias Monsieur Bidouille, has published a second video on the ITER Project.

His first video, based on a three-day visit to the ITER worksite, introduced the project to over one million viewers in September 2021. This month, he is back with a video that reviews recent developments in the world of fusion, including startup projects, and compares their scope and ambition with ITER.

You can watch it (in French) on Monsieur Bidouille's YouTube channel here.

Fusion for Energy (F4E), the European Union organization managing Europe's contribution to ITER, is currently seeking to recruit a new Director.

The Director will be appointed as a member of staff of F4E for a period of five years, which may be extended once in accordance with the F4E statutes. The Director is the chief executive officer responsible for the day-to-day management of F4E and is its legal representative.

F4E manages the European contribution to ITER, and is also involved in three major fusion R&D projects stemming from the Broader Approach Agreement signed between Europe and Japan. The agency is currently staffed by approximately 440 employees and 400 external contractors.

Read the full announcement on the F4E website here.

Go straight to the vacancy notice here.

Investment in private fusion companies has more than doubled in the past year and eight new companies have been founded, bringing the total to around 33.

According to the global fusion industry 2022 Report, six companies have now each raised over $200m in total, with notable investments in the last year including over $1.8 billion for Commonwealth Fusion Systems and $500m for Helion Energy, allowing them to develop pilot plants to demonstrate fusion electricity.

The huge step up in investment, coupled with increasing government support for fusion in the U.K. and the U.S., is increasing confidence within the fusion industry.

Andrew Holland, Chief Executive Officer of the Fusion Industry Association, states in the report, "We must not see a 'competition' between publicly funded and privately funded fusion approaches; instead, we must build real partnerships [...] With investment accelerating, it is increasingly likely that commercial fusion will become a reality within the next two decades, providing the basis for prosperity, safety, and security for many years to come."

Photo: Commonwealth Fusion Systems and its SPARC project raised over $1.8 billion last year.

Read the full article in Forbes.

In advance of the delivery of the first European vacuum vessel sector this autumn, the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy has released a new series of photos from the European workshops in Italy where the sub-parts of five sectors are manufactured and assembled.

At Mangiarotti S.p.A (Monfalcone), see the final activities underway on sector #5, which will be the first to arrive. The four sub-segments have been welded into the final D shape and detailed inspections are underway.

At Walter Tosto S.p.A (Chieti), technicians on working on multiple sectors, performing welding, inserting in-wall shielding, and carrying out inspections.

And at Belleli Energy EPC (Mantova), one poloidal segment is shown in the radiographic testing bunker, while others are prepared for welding, or cleaned during final inspection.