Watch an example of Jamy's program (in French) on electricity. When Jamy explains, children in France listen ... fascinated. For the past 20 years his program C'est pas sorcier ("It's not rocket science") on French public television Channel 3 has opened their minds to the many wonders of the world.   From his makeshift "laboratory," Jamy and co-stars Sabine and Fred have explained the Earth and the Universe, the human body, mankind's greatest technological accomplishments, the origins of man, electricity and magnetism ... 550 programs in all watched by two generations of young people in France (and by their parents!). C'est pas sorcier demonstrated the educational role that TV can play and how science can be fun and exciting.   One thing Jamy had never had the opportunity to explain is fusion and ITER. Ever curious he decided to come and see for himself, paying a visit to the construction site in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance in early January.   Jamy's presence offered the ITER Communication team a great opportunity to compare notes on how to best disseminate science and promote large projects such as ITER. After hours of conversation, it all boiled down to a few simple principles: use a language understandable by a teenager, never explain something that you do not fully understand and, most important of all perhaps, always speak and act as if you were yourself the listener.    

The European Domestic Agency for ITER, Fusion for Energy, started the new year with the completion of an important milestone linked to Europe's contribution to ITER: the successful manufacturing of the cryopanels and thermal shields for the pre-production cryopump (PPC). The pre-production cryopump will be the spare for ITER's eight cryopumps (two in the cryostat and six in the torus). The cryopumps will be constantly operational and will play a vital role in the production of the ultra-high vacuum inside the vacuum vessel. In a nutshell, these components will help attain optimum plasma performance. After an intense period of research, development and design, Fusion for Energy was entrusted with the responsibility of manufacturing the components. In November 2012, a series of contracts were signed with four companies based in Germany and in France, as well as with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for the manufacturing of the pre-production cryopump. Part of the pre-production cryopump thermal shields that will protect the cryopanels from excessive thermal loads. The pre-production cryopump and the rest of the torus cryopumps will operate with helium at 3.5 K (-269.5ºC). They consist of the cryopanels, which perform the pumping action, and thermal shields that protect the cryopanels from excessive thermal loads. The components were put through complex dimensional controls and ultra-high vacuum leak tests. The cryopanels have already been delivered to KIT and the thermal shields to Research Instruments, a German company that will integrate the manufacturing activities. At KIT, the cryopanels will be sprayed with charcoal, which is necessary for the pumping of helium and hydrogen isotopes from the torus. Research Instruments, together with Alsyom/Seiv will play a pivotal role in the production of the rest of the cryopump components, assembly, as well as the final cold ultra-high vacuum leak tests for the pre-production cryopump. Read the full article here.

The large portals to the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility were still closed on Friday afternoon, 17 January, when the two trucks with their precious cargo arrived at the ITER worksite 15 minutes ahead of time. On board were four crates shipped from the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) in Hefei, China, containing two types of conductor for the commissioning of the Winding Facility: 894 m of copper dummy conductor in three pieces to test tooling, and an additional 100 m of niobium-titanium (NbTi) conductor for winding and joint qualification tests.   Following a first convoy in June 2013, this was the second delivery of qualification conductors from China to the ITER worksite. According to the Procurement Arrangement signed between the Chinese Domestic Agency and the ITER Organization, China will in total fabricate 64 conductors for ITER's poloidal field coils, including four dummy conductors for cabling and coil manufacturing process qualification. ASIPP is responsible for all the poloidal field conductor fabrication in China.

The contract for developing an important diagnostic method for ITER went to the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching, Germany. The European Domestic Agency (Fusion for Energy, F4E) will be funding a German research and industrial consortium, headed by IPP, to the amount of EUR 4.8 million over four years. The objective is the advanced development of so-called bolometer cameras for recording the heat and X-radiation emitted from the ITER plasma. Award of the contract was based on a preparatory phase supported with national project funds in which the participants' suitability for this and other ITER tasks was verified.   The measuring method records the heat and light emission from the infrared to X-ray region and pinpoints their origin in the plasma. The radiation power is part of the total energy balance of the plasma. It has to be known in order to control the plasma or apply certain modes of operation.   Bolometer measurement on the ASDEX Upgrade plasma. On the left the numerous lines of sight of the bolometers, which scan the cross-section of the plasma. Result on the right: The values of the radiation power measured along these lines of sight were used to calculate its origin in the plasma. This "deconvolution" or tomographic reconstruction shows that the highest density of the radiation power occurs at the bottom edge of the plasma (the divertor area). As intended, the hot inner plasma scarcely emits any radiation power. (Graphic: Matthias Bernert, IPP) The measuring principle of a bolometer? A metal plate the size of a postage stamp absorbs the radiation emitted from the plasma along a narrow line of sight, thus heating up. The electric resistance of a conductor located below it changes according to the temperature and is therefore a direct measure of the radiation power. Additional calculations and measured data allow the radiation to be assigned to its origin in the plasma insofar as a sufficient number of bolometers are available. This reveals exactly what site in the plasma has emitted what power.   The method, developed at and patented by IPP, has been successfully applied for many years. However, the ITER large-scale device imposes new requirements: unlike in previous machines, the detectors will have to withstand impinging fusion neutrons and also be capable of working reliably at temperatures of up to 450 degrees.   Read the full Press Release here.

For the contact persons charged with intellectual property matters, the key is communication. Contact persons from the ITER Organization and the seven Domestic Agencies make it a point to gather together every year to discuss the progress on intellectual property-related activities and promote the sharing of intellectual property among all Members pursuant to Annex 1 of the ITER Agreement. The fifth meeting of the Intellectual Property Contact Persons (IPCP-05) was hosted by the Indian Domestic Agency at the International Centre in Dona Paula, situated in the famous tourist destination of Goa, from 12 to 13 December 2013. Six Domestic Agencies—China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea and Russia—were present to give their status updates on intellectual property. One of the important discussion points was the ownership of, and access to, two types of intellectual property generated by the ITER Project: background intellectual property (intellectual property developed prior to contractual arrangements and that may be used in the course of Project implementation) and generated intellectual property ("created" during the course of contract execution). IPCP-05 participants recognized the work and impressive progress made in the ITER Organization and at the Domestic Agencies on intellectual property activities. Awareness of issues has been significantly improved through intellectual property training sessions conducted in-house at ITER and by the Domestic Agencies for their staff.  All agreed that intellectual property sharing is the key to the success of ITER Project and the contact persons group shall continue to work collaboratively toward this goal.

In December, the second technical workshop on the ITER magnets and vacuum vessel was held by the Japanese and Korean Domestic Agencies, with China in attendance. The workshop aimed to promote the sharing of technology and manufacturing experience for these critical ITER components and to tighten cooperation among three neighboring ITER Members for the successful implementation of ITER.   More than 30 technical officers were present at the two-day event, which took place on 19-20 December 2013 at the new headquarters of National Fusion Research Institute in Daejeon, Korea. Participants included the heads of Domestic Agencies Kijung Jung (Korea) and Eisuke Tada (Japan).   The discussions focused on the challenges of manufacturing the ITER magnets and vacuum vessel. Viewpoints and experience on such areas as safety requirements, codes and standards, welding deformation and qualification procedures (non-destructive examination, manufacture tolerances, the material properties of structures and jackets, and acceptance test requirements) were exchanged. The issues of quality, schedule and cost were also addressed during the workshop.   Participants reaffirmed the importance of having the Unique ITER team spirit flow down to the technical level for improved Project efficiency. Much can be learned from one another through close collaboration and exchange of lessons learned.

​Researchers at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics this week have reported on efforts at the Alcator C-Mod and DIII-D experiments to investigate ways of dispersing the energy of disruptions.   Results suggest that the rotation of instabilities spreads the heat more evenly than the injection of gases like argon or neon. The rotation, which appears to be driven by smaller-scale instabilities, ends up moving the radiating regions around the vessel quickly and thus lowering the average heat load. Further research will determine if scientists can control or encourage this spontaneous rotation, and thus distribute the heat more uniformly to the wall.   Read the full article and access the APS abstracts at Science 2.2.  

​US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi visited MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak, currently in "warm shutdown" status due to budget constraints. Staff at the experiment are ready to restart operations should funding became available based on Congressional action on the fiscal year 2014 budgets. Read more at MIT News.

​Could fusion someday help power faster trips to Mars? New propulsion technologies may blast astronauts through space at breakneck speeds in the coming decades, proponents say, making manned Mars missions much faster and safer. Souped-up electric propulsion systems and rockets driven by nuclear fusion or fission could end up shortening travel times to the Red Planet dramatically, potentially opening up a new era in manned space exploration.   "Using existing rocket fuels, it's nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth," John Slough of the University of Washington, leader of a team developing a fusion-driven rocket, said in a statement earlier this year. "We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace."   Read more on Space.com.

Fusion energy research is serious business. Generally, it is a lifelong commitment, involving long hours and weekends, along with optimism and dogged determination. Recently, fusion research has been increasingly in the news, as construction moves forward on ITER in France, which is being designed and built by nations which together encompass most of the world's population. As an inexhaustible source of power, using seawater-derived fuel which is universally available, fusion energy is recognized as an urgent requirement for the future. John Sheffield, who has been involved in fusion research for more than 50 years, has seen it all, including the foibles, missteps, failed experiments, and mistranslations that a global scientific research effort create. He has written "Fun in Fusion Research" to capture the very human and fun side of serious science. Read a review in the attached pdf.

Most scientific breakthroughs have occurred in boring buildings. Can a new generation of architects change that? Today, expensive new physics buildings are being planned all around the world. The question is, are they any different from—or better than—their shabby predecessors? Should they express something of the wonder of the world they are built to examine? And will they help answers to the biggest questions emerge?   Like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the ITER Tokamak will be a monumental piece of machinery, a container capable of generating—and containing—a mini sun. ITER's Headquarters building, designed by Marseille-based architect Rudy Ricciotti and completed last year, features a dramatic undulating facade. There are many more buildings planned for the site, some more extravagant than others, but the box containing the Tokamak (the plasma-filled doughnut-shaped ball-of-fire container) is disappointingly utilitarian, looking like a big, boxy waste incinerator. Yet here, together with CERN, we have buildings searching for the holy grails of science—the Higgs boson, or "God particle", and the power of the sun. These really are our contemporary cathedrals, buildings embodying the power and strangeness of the subatomic world. Yet they express nothing of the wonder that the cathedrals tried to convey.   Read the full article on the website of the Financial Times Magazine.​

Princeton astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer Jr. (1914-1997) was among the 20th century's most visionary scientists. His major influences range from founding the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and its quest for fusion energy, to inspiring the development of the Hubble Space Telescope and its images of the far corners of the universe. To honor Spitzer's achievements, some 60 scientists from around the world gathered at Princeton University 18-20 October for a 100th birthday celebration of the pioneering physicist. The event, sponsored by the Princeton Department of Astrophysical Sciences and hosted by Princeton astrophysicist and department chair David Spergel, ranged from personal reminiscences of Spitzer the man, to discussions of the latest developments in the fields of fusion, astrophysics and laboratory plasma science that he heavily influenced. Read more on the PPPL website.​

A magnetic filament of solar material erupted on the sun in late September, breaking the quiet conditions in a spectacular fashion. The 200,000 mile long filament ripped through the sun's atmosphere, the corona, leaving behind what looks like a canyon of fire. The glowing canyon traces the channel where magnetic fields held the filament aloft before the explosion. Visualizers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. combined two days of satellite data to create a short movie of this gigantic event on the sun. In reality, the sun is not made of fire, but of something called plasma: particles so hot that their electrons have boiled off, creating a charged gas that is interwoven with magnetic fields. These images were captured on Sept. 29-30, 2013, by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, which constantly observes the sun in a variety of wavelengths. ​

Often the food analogies applied to tokamaks centre around doughnuts, due to the shape of magnetic field that confines the hot fusion plasma. But as one delves deeper into the complicated world of gyrokinetics, the simplistic doughnut transforms into a more complex banana orbit in a journey from the ideal to the real world. The premise of the tokamak is to construct a doughnut shaped magnetic field and then the plasma particles will merrily spiral around it for ever. Enter an uncomfortable reality of geometry; as you can see in the main image above, the magnets are closer together in the centre of the torus (the hole of the doughnut) than they are around the outside. This means the magnetic field is not uniform: it is stronger in the inside part of the ring.This means that the helical path the particle follows is not symmetrical. A tighter turn on the high field (inner) side of the line and looser on the outside leads to a drift either upwards or downwards (depending on the direction of rotation). This is the beginning of our banana orbit, as shown in the projected cross-section at the left-hand side of the figure. As an example, let's follow a particle on the inside of the banana halfway up, gradually creeping downwards to trace the banana's inner edge. Read the full article on the EFDA-JET website.