Of Interest archive

Fusion researchers are constantly challenging the scientific state of the art and improving the technology. This drive lay the basis the conditions for innovation, much of which can be exploited in other sciences and industrial sectors for the benefit of society.

The SOFT Innovation Prize rewards outstanding achievements in fusion energy research showcasing opportunities of valorization in the sector. It is intended for researchers and/or industrial actors who find new solutions, possibly with wider applications, to the challenges of fusion.

SOFT stands for Symposium on Fusion Technology—the name of  conference where the prize is awarded. Following the success of the previous editions, the European Commission is holding the contest again in conjunction with SOFT 2024 (23-27 September 2024, Dublin, Ireland).

There are no specific categories for this prize. Participants are free to submit an application concerning any physics or technology innovation that has been developed in magnetic confinement fusion research and that has market potential or has been taken up (or recognized) by industry to be further developed for the market.

Entries will be assessed on originality and replicability, technical excellence, economic impact, exploitation, and plans for further development. Proposals are studied by an independent jury composed of experts in technology transfer, from business and academia.

The deadline to submit applications has been extended to 15 February 2024. See further details on the SOFT Prize website.

At the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE), the KSTAR tokamak recommenced operations in December after a major upgrade to replace the device's carbon divertor with a tungsten divertor.

According to an article on the KFE website, the original carbon divertors could take a thermal load of 5MW/m², whereas the tungsten divertor can take 10MW/m². The upgrade is critical to the goal of sustaining a 100-million-degree plasma for 300 seconds by 2026. Data from the operational campaign will be directly relevant to ITER, which will operate a tungsten divertor under similar plasma conditions in terms of shape and structure.

This testing campaign will continue through February 2024. Read more about the plans in this article in English on the KFE website, or in Korean in the Chosun Biz.

From a UKAEA press release on 20 December 2023.

Some 40 and a half years after its first pulse on 25 June 1983, JET delivered pulse number 105,842 on Tuesday 18 December 2023.

UKAEA Chief Executive Officer, Prof Sir Ian Chapman, who was in attendance in JET's control room for the final plasma experiment, said: "This is the final milestone in JET's 40-year history. Those decades of research using JET by dedicated teams of scientists and engineers have played a critical role in accelerating the development of fusion energy."

JET's final day of plasma continued to push scientific boundaries, firstly attempting an inverted plasma shape for the first time at Culham before deliberately aiming electrons at the inner wall to improve understanding of beam control and damage mechanisms. The findings of these experiments will support the development of ITER.

JET will now move on to the next phase of its life cycle in early 2024 for repurposing and decommissioning, which will last until approximately 2040.

JET was operated at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy as a Joint Undertaking of the European Community between 1977 and 2000, with the Euratom Research and Training program contributing approximately 80 percent of JET operation costs through 2021. Under the operation of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) since 2000, JET was used by 4,800 EUROfusion consortium experts, students and staff from across Europe.

--The JET control room on the day of final plasma experiments. Photo: UKAEA/EUROfusion

On Thursday 14 December, join in for Episode #2 of the IAEA Fusion Energy Webinar Series. "Fusion Energy at COP28: A promising emerging climate solution" will address the growing momentum worldwide behind fusion as a climate solution, as evidenced most recently at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai.

Adam Danilowicz, of the IAEA, will moderate a panel with distinguished guests:

Scott Hsu, Senior Advisor and Lead Fusion Coordinator Office of the Under Secretary for Science & Innovation, US Department of Energy

Tim Bestwick, Chief Development Officer and Deputy CEO, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority 

Stephanie Diem, Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Andrew Holland, Chief Executive Officer of the Fusion Industry Association

See all information at this address.

On Tuesday 12 December, from 10:30 to 11:45 in the morning (GMT), the JET tokamak team will be hosting a special *LIVE* YouTube show direct from the JET control room. 

JET operation ends this week with final plasma shots planned on 14 and 15 December. Join the team to look back over 40 years of research on JET and look ahead toward the future of fusion. The agenda includes a talk on "What's made JET special"; a discussion about achievements at JET; an interview with Tony Donné from EUROfusion; and a discussion on the next steps in fusion.

Participants can ask their questions by chat during the live stream. See all information here.

Have you written a fusion-related Master's thesis in 2023? Then you can participate in the FuseNet Master Thesis Prize 2023!

To stimulate excellence in fusion research, FuseNet would like to award several students for outstanding Master's theses that were carried out in Europe or in collaboration with international institutions.

Nominations for this Master's thesis prize can be made through the FuseNet website at the link below. Please make sure that the submission is agreed with your institution and its FuseNet contact person. Only one submission per FuseNet member institution is allowed. The submission deadline is 1 February 2024.

See all information on the FuseNet website.

Félicie Albert, Director of the Jupiter Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, delivered a guest lecture on 4 December 2023 to several hundred members of the ITER community. She returned to the achievement of fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility in December 2022—a first-of-class milestone that had reverberated around the world and that has been replicated several times since—and brought the audience up to date on future plans for the facility.

"The National Ignition Facility has not yet reached its full potential; we have many plans for the future," she said. Increasing the energy of the laser, achieving more routine implosions of the deuterium-tritium target, and sustaining the facility through the maintenance and replacement of components are all on the list. As for the longer-term prospects of designing and building a fusion power plant based on laser technology (inertial fusion), she described the many scientific and technological challenges that would have to be overcome.

Director Albert also took time to describe other laser facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where research activities are underway to investigate particle acceleration in laser-driven plasmas as a way to generate x-rays that have unique properties and that can be used for non-destructive examination of materials or the probing of matter in extreme conditions.

Félicie Albert is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the recipient of numerous awards including the APS Katherine E. Weimer Award (2017) and the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineers (2019).

After dedicating their careers to fusion power development, five recently retired engineers have launched an educational website, Facts About Fusion, that is designed to make the intricate world of fusion energy understandable and engaging for everyone.

Bill Spears, Federico Casci, Werner Gulden, Antonino Cardella, and Lorenzo Virgilio Boccaccini set out to give "a grounded view of the requirements, aims, and variety of fusion power development, highlighting the achievements so far, the current status, and the steps still needed to reach an acceptable solution."

What sets this site apart, according to its authors, is its objective viewpoint. "While the authors are knowledgeable and experienced in the field of fusion, their retirement status allows them to offer a neutral perspective that complements existing fusion project websites. This unique vantage point enhances the website's goal of fostering a better-informed public."

Click to visit Facts About Fusion.

See this introductory article by Bill Spears published on the EUROfusion website.

Join the ITER Organization at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December. You can find the ITER pavilion in the Blue Zone, B7, Building 88, on the second floor. Follow us on social media to stay abreast of the dynamic series of talks, panel discussions and events planned around fusion energy.

On Tuesday, 28 November, the World Nuclear Exhibition will open its doors at Paris Villepinte, and the ITER Organization will be there to hold up the fusion flag. Come and see us at our exhibition booth AE140. On Thursday, 30 November, 11.30-12.00, we will also present upcoming business opportunities in a special workshop in Room 3.

See all information about the World Nuclear Exhibition here.

Global technology solutions provider NTT Corporation (Japan) and the ITER Organization are planning joint experiments on predicting anomalies in ITER plant facilities. The early detection of anomalies and failures can reduce equipment downtime and increase the efficiency of the ITER Tokamak's operational phases.

NTT's artificial-intelligence (AI) powered anomaly prediction technology "DeAnoS" (for Deep Anomaly Surveillance) will be used to understand the normal status of selected ITER plant equipment, to detect faults, and to predict anomalies. The ITER Organization has already provided some operational data from the cooling water system to set up this ambitious collaboration, and will scale up with data from other equipment in the years ahead.

These experiments result from a Cooperation Agreement signed with NTT in 2020.

See the press release issued by NTT here.

In the fifth installment of ITER Japan's manga series on the project, our hero Taiyô Tenno visits the Gyrotron Test Facility at the Naka Fusion Institute where eight ITER gyrotrons were manufactured and tested. Taiyô learns about the synthetic diamond windows that were developed over 30 years of R&D and that allow strong microwave pulses to pass through to the plasma without cracking.

The virtual tour of ITER construction has been updated with high-definition 360° photos from October 2023. Enter the main ITER plant buildings or the machine assembly theatre to see what has changed since the last update in January 2023.

Accessible from the home page of the ITER website (yellow icon) or by clicking on the link below.

Click here to enter the latest 360° ITER virtual tour.

On Friday 3 November, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi took part in a panel discussion on nuclear fusion organized as part of the Berlin Science Week. 

Moderated by Sakura Pascarelli (Scientific Director, European XFEL), "Nuclear fusion for a decarbonized future" featured:

— Pietro Barabaschi, Director-General, ITER Organization (keynote)
— Masaya Hanada, Director General, Naka Fusion Institute Japan
— Steven Cowley, Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA
— Piergiorgio Sonato, President, RFX Consortium, Italy
— Hartmut Zohm, Head of Tokamak Division, MPI-IPP, Germany

After describing project status, Director-General Barabaschi commented on how ITER is contributing to the world fusion research program. "Fusion is an innovation program ... it's not just one project. [...] We see now a renaissance of fusion around the world. A lot of private investment interest, a lot of companies, a lot of opportunities for young people. [...] A lot of new ideas will come up and I believe that ITER can provide some support. [...] Others may learn from what we are doing; it's part of our job I believe."

You can watch a replay of the public event at this address.

The Europe/Japan team at the JT-60SA tokamak in Naka, Japan, succeeded on 23 October 2023 in producing a tokamak plasma for the first time.

The team issued the following statement: 

"This is a major achievement by the teams involved in the operation of the biggest experimental fusion device to date using magnetic confinement. The result will be carefully examined as the teams will continue to perform more tests during the next weeks. This will culminate on 1 December when the newly built fusion research facility will be officially inaugurated in Naka in the presence of delegates from Japan and Europe. Stay tuned for further updates!"

See the press release in Japanese issued by Japan's National Institutes of Quantum Science and Technology (QST) and the article published by the European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy.

The IAEA's World Fusion Outlook aims to be the global reference for authoritative information and updates on fusion energy.

The IAEA has been promoting fusion energy research and development for over 60 years, and it continues to strongly support R&D and future deployment by bringing the fusion community together to create solutions for both scientific and technological challenges. This first issue of the publication outlines achievements in fusion energy; its safety, security, safeguards, nuclear law and liability challenges; as well as the role of the IAEA.

Download the full report from the IAEA website here.

The introduction to the IAEA World Fusion Outlook 2023 is available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish here (scroll down the page).

The 29th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2023) is taking place next week in London. In-person registration has closed, but remote participation is possible. Follow the instructions on this page to register for virtual attendance.

Registered virtual attendees will be able to follow all the technical sessions of the conference online via the IAEA conference and meetings app. (Consult the preliminary program here.)

The 29th Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2023) aims to provide a forum for the discussion of key physics and technology issues as well as innovative concepts of direct relevance to the use of nuclear fusion as a future source of energy. It is organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) through the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

Fusion researchers are constantly challenging the scientific state of the art and improving the technology. This drive lay the basis the conditions for innovation, much of which can be exploited in other sciences and industrial sectors for the benefit of society.

The SOFT Innovation Prize rewards outstanding achievements in fusion energy research showcasing opportunities of valorization in the sector. It is intended for researchers and/or industrial actors who find new solutions, possibly with wider applications, to the challenges of fusion.

SOFT stands for Symposium on Fusion Technology—the name of  conference where the prize is awarded. Following the success of the previous editions, the European Commission is holding the contest again in conjunction with SOFT 2024 (23-27 September 2024, Dublin, Ireland).

There are no specific categories for this prize. Participants are free to submit an application concerning any physics or technology innovation that has been developed in magnetic confinement fusion research and that has market potential or has been taken up (or recognized) by industry to be further developed for the market.

Entries will be assessed on originality and replicability, technical excellence, economic impact, exploitation, and plans for further development. Proposals are studied by an independent jury composed of experts in technology transfer, from business and academia.

The deadline to submit applications is 16 January 2024. See further details on the SOFT Prize website.

Are you currently a fusion or plasma physics Master's student, or are you starting a Master's during the next academic year? Are you looking for an opportunity to meet the community and learn more about studying for this field? Then the FuseNet Master Event 2023 is the place for you.

The third edition of the FuseNet Master Event will take place on Tuesday 23 November 2023. 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 event will interest to both students who are just getting started in fusion, and students who are graduating. 

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

The EUROfusion consortium for the realization of fusion energy has awarded ten Bernard Bigot Researcher Grants (ERG) to talented post-doctoral researchers across Europe. The ERG grants enable early-career researchers to develop innovative ideas and techniques to advance EUROfusion's Roadmap to Fusion Energy.

The EUROfusion Bernard Bigot Researcher Grants program, named after the third Director-General of the ITER Organization, supports excellent scientists at the post-doctoral level in their career development. The ERG grants cover part of the salaries of the selected candidates and part of the cost of their research activities and missions for a duration of up to two years.

Read all about the ten awardees on this EUROfusion webpage.