Belgium

Plasma Physics Laboratory Ecole Royale Militaire Koninklijke Militaire School (LPP - ERM / KMS)

LPP – ERM / KMS focuses on the development of plasma heating systems (antennae and matching systems) based on Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) technique. Research is conducted both in the experimental and theoretical domains. LPP – ERM / KMS has notably developed a design for the ITER ICRH antenna system and is still involved in this activity.

LPP – ERM / KMS is a small-size laboratory headed by Prof. Dr. Michael Van Schoor, with a group of 23 staff members: 16 researchers, including 2 PhD students, 2 administrative staff members, 3 teaching staff members and 2 technicians.

LPP – ERM / KMS executes a detailed scientific programme in the framework of EUROfusion work packages:

  1. JET Campaigns: the main purpose of these experiments is to explore heating scenarios relevant to ITER. An ICRF antenna with ITER-like properties was developed by LPP – ERM / KMS for JET.
  2. Wall conditioning, plasma start-up and plasma facing components (PFCs): the problem of the conditioning and the clean-up of the PFCs is crucial for future fusion machines, and ICRF provides a very effective way. This is studied on JET, and on other machines of medium sizes ASDEX-Upgrade, TCV and WEST.
  3. Stellarators: LPP – ERM / KMS is responsible for the design, the installation and the operation of an ICRF 3D-antenna for the German stellarator W7-X.
  4. Traveling wave antennas (TWA): the TWA concept is an innovative and promising concept of ICRF antenna which is being proposed for DEMO. A prototype antenna is being designed by LPP for the WEST tokamak.
  5. TOMAS: TOMAS is a small table-top toroidal machine situated in Jülich (Germany) and equipped with heating systems. This machine allows for wall conditioning, plasma production, and plasma-surface interaction studies.

Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN)

The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre is a global leader in the field of nuclear research, services and education.

SCK CEN contains more than 800 employees out of which more than 30% have a PhD degree. The scientific and education programme of SCK CEN includes about 80-90 PhD researchers and a similar amount of Master students.

SCK CEN participates in Fusion Research since 1986. Its main contribution comes in material testing and qualification using nuclearized facilities such as material test reactors and hot cells. Another important direction includes the design of plasma diagnostics systems, development of innovative materials, computational modelling and development of fusion-spectrum irradiation sources in support of IFMIF-DONES.