Matthijs van Berkel receives grant to develop holistic fusion control system
DIFFER researcher Matthijs van Berkel receives a prestigious Vidi from the Dutch National Research Council NWO. With the grant of 800,000 euros, he and three team members can spend five years developing a control system for the regulated firing of ice-cold hydrogen pellets in fusion reactors.
The state of the art for DEMO
A special issue of the scientific journal Fusion Engineering & Design presents the state of the art in designing Europe’s demonstration fusion power plant DEMO.
Horizon EUROfusion event announces start of conceptual power plant design
At a livestreamed event in Brussels on 5 July 2022, EUROfusion will celebrate the start of conceptual design activities for Europe’s first demonstration fusion power plant DEMO. This first-of-a-kind fusion device would demonstrate the net production of 300 to 500 megawatts of clean and safe fusion energy to the grid by the middle of the century.
Fusion scientists drive groundwater research forward
Fusion scientists at DIFFER, together with an international team of groundwater researchers, have written a paper on new ways to determine how fast groundwater enters or exits the river. This is directly related to how the temperature in the riverbed changes. By measuring the temperature at different soil depths, they can determine the relevant heat transport parameters. And that is something that is also done frequently in fusion research. An interview with Ricky van Kampen and Matthijs van Berkel.
Breaking a law of fusion
Future devices may be able to reach a higher fuel density – and energy performance – than what was predicted by fusion’s Greenwald limit, say European researchers.
Robotic snake solves fusion energy pipework challenge
A new laser-welding ‘robotic snake’ developed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority has demonstrated its capability to operate inside of fusion energy powerplant pipework and is now patented technology.
“A bet became unavoidable”
The terms of a wager between two prominent plasma physicists drawn on a napkin 34 years ago were fulfilled last week when Robert Goldston, a former director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, presented a plaque to his friend Jean Jacquinot, former director of the Joint European Torus (JET), EUROfusion’s flagship fusion experiment.
ITER Organization searching for a new Director-General
The ITER parties have published a Solicitation Announcement for the position of Director-General of the ITER Organization.
ITER achieves big vacuum vessel lift
The distance was short but the challenge daunting: on Thursday 5 May, the first section of the ITER plasma chamber was lifted 50 centimetres above its supports. What made this first-of-a-kind operation particularly delicate was the nature of the load (a 1,380-tonne, 18-metre-tall assembly) and the extreme precision its handling required.