SOFT Innovation Prize: three researchers awarded

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. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, congratulated the winners and said: We need to maintain and further develop the technological leadership […]

Raking out the fusion ashes

New simulations and experiments at the record-breaking Joint European Torus fusion device JET take another step towards sustainable fusion power to the grid. In the scientific journal Nature Communications, EUROfusion and international researchers show how periodic waves in the plasma can ‘rake out’ unburnable helium while the fusion reaction burns steady.

When plasma is unstable: physicists tested sudden energy collapses in a tokamak

An extensive series of experiments has been carried out by researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS and the international ITER project, which aims to start producing clean and almost inexhaustible energy through the so-called tokamak within the next four years. For the first time, scientists have been able to provide experimental evidence of a physical limit to the electric currents flowing between the plasma and the first reactor wall at a time when the plasma is unstable. The new findings, published in the Nuclear Fusion journal, will help improve computer models for future fusion reactors.

The next Step for ASDEX Upgrade

910 project activities in 514 days: In a complex conversion project, the Garching fusion experiment is being overhauled and equipped with divertor coils for the first time.

Women in Fusion initiative website launched

Women in Fusion (WiF) has launched a website today where members can join a new global network for gender parity in fusion, improving diversity and increasing the visibility of women’s contributions to fusion. With this new website everyone interested in WiF’s mission can join the Women in Fusion community.

“Sometimes you need to inject some pragmatism”

On 4 July 2022, Italian plasma physicist Prof Ambrogio Fasoli (Swiss Plasma Center / EPFL) was unanimously re-elected as chair of EUROfusion’s decision-making body, the ‘general assembly’ of 31 members from 29 countries. We talk to Fasoli about leading such a diverse band towards realising fusion energy.

A camera to see ITER neutrons

Inside the ITER tokamak, there will be many diagnostic devices that will be the “eyes and ears” of the machine. They will inform experts on the relevant parameters of the plasma to control the fusion reaction. As it takes place, neutrons of 2.5 MeV and 14 MeV will be produced in the vacuum vessel. The […]

COMPASS disruptions help to advance ITER

Scientists from the COMPASS tokamak at IPP in Prague and the ITER Organization have performed a set of experiments to improve the understanding of plasma disruptions. This joint effort has provided the first experimental evidence of a physical limit to the flow of electric currents between the plasma and tokamak components during these events. This finding will help scientists to refine models and provide improved predictions of plasma dynamics and the associated forces on in-vessel components during ITER disruptions.