The operational phase of the ITER fusion device will undoubtedly open up significant new areas of fusion research. The achievement of high fusion performance and advanced operational regimes will make new demands on the experimental, theory and modelling expertise of the fusion community.  To exploit the machine's potential and to optimize its performance, ITER will rely on major contributions from the experts in the Members' fusion communities. Already, a framework for internationally coordinated fusion research activities—the ITPA (International Tokamak Physics Activity)—operates under the auspices of ITER. Its greatest strength has been coordinating experimental work to support ITER high-priority physics needs, making use of the Members' fusion facilities and collating results. This work has provided much of the database (the "ITER physics design basis") that informed the ITER design. Now, ITER is seeking to prepare for the scientific exploitation phase of the device by strengthening the involvement of the fusion community directly in ITER. In early January 2016, the ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot launched the ITER Scientist Fellow program in order to create a network of scientists and physicists working on simulation and theory within the research laboratories and institutes of the ITER Members, with strongly reinforced ties to ITER Project and the ITER team. "The planned operational program of ITER after First Plasma and the deuterium-tritium commissioning phase is already in the hands of researchers," stressed the Director-General in launching the program. "This is why we are moving to establish a network of Scientist Fellows on a goodwill basis—scientists who agree to focus their research on pending questions related to ITER operation. The 25- to 30-year-old researchers today will be in charge of operating the machine tomorrow. If they don't "take ownership" of it in a figurative sense before then, they will not be ready to take full advantage of the machine capacities in due time." ITER Scientist Fellows will be drawn from the leading researchers in the Members' fusion communities who have achieved international recognition for their contributions to fusion research. They will be chosen by the Director-General, supported by the Executive Project Board, based on nominations from the heads of institutions. While remaining in the employ of their home institutions, Scientist Fellows will interact closely with the ITER Science & Operations Department in the definition of a research program and with other Fellows in its implementation. "It's a unique opportunity for 'cross-fertilization,'" says the ITER Director-General. "ITER Scientist Fellows will play a key role in the development of the ITER scientific program via contributions to the resolution of outstanding research issues and, in return, they will benefit from close ties to the ITER team and access to a scientific and technological environment that can enrich their work back home."To facilitate the development of the network, the ITER Organization has developed a number of profiles based on areas of critical interest to the ITER scientific R&D program. For the launch of the network, these are: ELM control (for Edge Localized Modes), disruption mitigation, edge plasma modelling, and integrated modelling (click to consult the profiles). The number of Fellows working in each area will depend on the nominations received from the Members' academic and research institutions, but it is hoped initially to have a group of at least six scientists working in each area. The scope of the Network and number of scientists involved would grow in the coming years as the preparations for the ITER operations phase expand. Scientist Fellows will be named for three years, renewable, and will have the opportunity to visit ITER regularly. Dedicated scientific workshops will be organized within the network and Fellows will be encouraged to publish their work at scientific conferences and in journals. The research activities of the Scientist Fellow network, which will enhance ITER's simulation capability for burning plasmas, will be closely coordinated with those of the well-established ITPA that are focused more on experimental R&D. The aim will be to develop complementary research programs supporting the preparations for ITER operation. In early January 2016, the ITER Director-General sent out an official invitation letter to over 100 research laboratories, institutes and universities in China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US. If you have questions on any aspect of the ITER Scientist Fellow Network (ISFN) framework, please use the following email address: @email.

Qualifying materials resistant enough to withstand the impact of the high-energy neutrons from deuterium-tritium (DT) reactions is of utmost importance for the future of fusion. This task has been assigned to the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), which is in its Engineering Design and Engineering Validation (EVEDA) phase under the Broader Approach Agreement that Japan and the European Union formally launched in 2007.   The EVEDA phase of IFMIF was conceived as a risk mitigation exercise for the future facility, consisting among other assignments of providing a design for the IFMIF plant and of working with prototypes to demonstrate the stable operation of the Accelerator, Target and Test facilities, which are the main technological challenges.   IFMIF/EVEDA is soundly advancing towards the successful accomplishment of its full mandate. The objectives of the engineering design activities (EDA phase) were achieved in June 2013 on schedule, with the issuing of the Intermediate IFMIF Engineering Design Report.   During 2015, the validation activities for the Test Facility were successfully accomplished, demonstrating among other things the feasibility of a temperature gradient within +/- 3 percent at the target temperatures between 250 °C and 550 °C for over 80 percent of the small specimens contained in 12 capsules. (Each capsule is capable of housing two sets of 35 specimens, permitting the characterization of materials at a given irradiation temperature under fusion-neutron-relevant conditions).   Engineering validation activities are progressing. In the EVEDA Lithium Test Loop, the specified long-term operation of the lithium flow, with maximum allowable thickness variations within +/- 1 mm, was successfully demonstrated over 25 days of continuous operation, with stable flow at nominal operation conditions with thickness variations within +/- 0.5 mm. A full scale prototype of the High Flux Test Module, with two instead of four irradiation compartments, was studied in the HELOKA loop facility installed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Isothermal conditions <3 percent were achieved in 97 percent of the capsule volume (which was instrumented with 17 thermocouples) at any target temperature within the specified range. Fully featured capsules loaded with specimens were irradiated at the BR2 reactor in Mol, Belgium. The irradiation tests provided important information for optimizing capsule geometry to ensure tightness and to increase the heater lifetime; also neutron flux monitoring could be validated in-situ.   In parallel, the lithium target validation activities have proven that the projected 25-mm-thick lithium jet flowing at 20m/s at the maximum can be realized as the target for the two accelerators, each delivering a deuteron (deuterium ion) beam of 125 mA at 40 MeV in continuous wave (i.e., 100 percent duty cycles) with a beam power of 2 x 5 MW. The specified long-term operation of the lithium flow, with maximum allowable thickness variations within +/- 1 mm, has been successfully demonstrated in the EVEDA Lithium Test Loop (ELTL) over 25 days of continuous operation with stable flow at nominal operation conditions with thickness variations within +/- 0.5 mm.   The only remaining activity related to Target Facility validation is the study of corrosion/erosion of the reduced activation ferritic-martensitic steels when exposed to IFMIF-relevant lithium conditions, which is presently being investigated in the lithium loop of LIFUS6 in Brasimone, Italy (ENEA) with eight specimens of EUROFER and F82H under IFMIF-relevant flowing lithium conditions.   The Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator, LIPAc, is designed to run a deuteron beam of 125 mA at 9 MeV in continuous wave (compared to the 125 mA and 40 MeV of IFMIF). At the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) Broader Approach Rokkasho site (the International Fusion Research Centre, IFERC) the commissioning of the deuteron injector aiming at a 100 keV/ 140 mA continuous wave beam designed and manufactured by CEA (Saclay, France), is in its last stages. The radiofrequency quadrupole contributed by INFN (Legnaro, Italy) will arrive in February 2016 to initially achieve a 125 mA deuteron beam at 5 MeV and 0.1 percent duty cycle. This phase of LIPAc commissioning, which builds also on accelerator systems from CIEMAT (Spain)—such as the radio-frequency power source, medium energy beam transport line, and the diagnostic plate—is scheduled to end in May 2017, followed by another phase for commissioning involving the SRF Linac (CEA), with assembly carried out in Rokkasho.   A resource-loaded schedule for the accomplishment of the full scope of the Accelerator Facility validation activities was approved during the last Broader Approach Steering Committee #17, hosted by the RFX Consortium in Padua, Italy, on 11 December 2015. The Broader Approach Steering Committee approved an extension that will allow the operation of LIPAc at 125 mA in continuous wave and 9 MeV, at the cutting edge of world accelerator technologies, before December 2019 with no additional credits required beyond those assigned to the Broader Approach Agreement upon its signature in 2007.   See more information on the European Domestic Agency website.

In the centre of the Tokamak Pit, work progresses on the ITER bioshield, the thick concrete wall the will completely encircle the ITER machine.   And all around, the walls of the Tokamak Building are rising—the east, west and south sides have been poured at the B2 (lower basement) level and 70 percent of columns are in place. On the left side of the image, formwork is up for the first walls of the B1 (upper basement) level. B1-level civil works will start in the Tokamak Building during the first quarter of 2016.  

Among the most feared events in space physics are solar eruptions, massive explosions that hurl millions of tons of plasma gas and radiation into space. These outbursts can be deadly: if the first moon-landing mission had encountered one, the intense radiation could have been fatal to the astronauts. And when eruptions reach the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth, the contact can create geomagnetic storms that disrupt cell phone service, damage satellites and knock out power grids. NASA is eager to know when an eruption is coming and when what looks like the start of an outburst is just a false alarm. Knowing the difference could affect the timing of future space missions such as journeys to Mars, and show when steps to protect satellites, power systems and other equipment need to be taken. (Photo NASA) Read the whole article on the PPPL website.

Momentum is building on the MAST Upgrade project at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) in the UK. When completed, the upgrade of the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) will enable scientists to test the spherical tokamak design as a candidate for a Component Test Facility that will trial technology and materials in advance of the next-step machine; add to the knowledge base for ITER on key plasma physics issues; and test a high-power exhaust system known as a Super-X divertor. The final phase of assembly will take place in 2016. See the three-minute video on the CCFE website.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have produced self-consistent computer simulations that capture the evolution of an electric current inside fusion plasma without using a central electromagnet, or solenoid. The simulations of the process, known as non-inductive current ramp-up, were performed using TRANSP, the gold-standard code developed at PPPL. The results were published in October 2015 in Nuclear Fusion. The research was supported by the DOE Office of Science. In traditional donut-shaped tokamaks, a large solenoid runs down the centre of the reactor. By varying the electrical current in the solenoid scientists induce a current in the plasma. This current starts up the plasma and creates a second magnetic field that completes the forces that hold the hot, charged gas together. But spherical tokamaks, a compact variety of fusion reactor that produces high plasma pressure with relatively low magnetic fields, have little room for solenoids. Spherical tokamaks look like cored apples and have a smaller central hole for the solenoid than conventional tokamaks do. Physicists, therefore, have been trying to find alternative methods for producing the current that starts the plasma and completes the magnetic field in spherical tokamaks.  One such method is known as coaxial helicity injection (CHI). During CHI, researchers switch on an electric coil that runs beneath the tokamak. Above this coil is a gap that opens into the tokamak's vacuum vessel and circles the tokamak's floor. The switched-on electrical current produces a magnetic field that connects metal plates on either side of the gap. Read more on the PPPL website.