Of Interest archive

​The extension to the ITER Headquarters to the ITER Organization was handed over on 30 September in a ceremony during which Tim Watson, head of the Buildings and Site Infrastructure Directorate, accepted the building from the contractor Travaux du Midi.

The 3,500-square-metre extension (5 storeys high, 35 metres long) will share the same architectural features as the existing building. It will accomodate some 350 ITER staff and contractors  presently hosted in buildings one kilometre away.

Moving will be organized in stages from October to December 2014.

From left to right: Tim Watson, head of the ITER Buildings & Site Directorate; architect Tillman Reichert (Ricciotti Architects); and Pierre Bisagno of Les Travaux du Midi.

​Studying the intricacies and mysteries of the sun is physicist Wendell Horton life's work. A widely known authority on plasma physics, his study of the high temperature gases on the sun, or plasma, consistently leads him around the world to work on a diverse range of projects that have great impact.

Fusion energy is one such key scientific issue that Horton is investigating and one that has intrigued researchers for decades. ...   It's no secret that the demand for energy around the world is outpacing the supply. Fusion energy has tremendous potential, however, harnessing the power of the sun for this burgeoning energy source requires extensive work.   Through the Institute for Fusion Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, Horton collaborates with researchers at ITER, a fusion lab in France and the National Institute for Fusion Science in Japan to address these challenges. At ITER, Horton is working with researchers to build the world's largest tokamak—the device that is leading the way to produce fusion energy in the laboratory. ...   Perfecting the design of the tokamak is essential to producing fusion energy and since it is not fully developed, Horton performs supercomputer simulations on the Stampede supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) to model plasma flow and turbulence inside the device.   "Simulations give us information about plasma in three dimensions and in time, so that we are able to see details beyond what we would get with analytic theory and probes and high-tech diagnostic measurements," Horton said

Read more at PhysOrg.

 

​The leading event worldwide for the exchange information on the design, construction and operation of fusion experiments—and on the technology for present fusion machines and future power plants—got off to a start on Monday 29 September in San Sebastián, Spain.

In front of the 800 scientists, engineers, developers, manufacturers and students taking part in the week-long event, ITER Director-General Osamu Motojima presented the "Progress and planning of ITER" in one of the first introductory sessions.

The symposium, organized by the Spanish Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT), continues through Friday 3 October with oral and poster presentations, industrial and R&D exhibitions, and an ITER Industrial Infoday on Tuesday 30 September.

On Monday 29 September, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, celebrated its 60th anniversary with an event attended by delegations from 35 countries.

Founded in 1954, CERN's origins can be traced back to the aftermath of the Second World War, when a small group of visionary scientists and public administrators on both sides of the Atlantic identified fundamental research as a potential vehicle to rebuild the continent and to foster peace in a troubled region.

Today, CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world and a prime example of international collaboration, bringing together scientists representing almost 100 nationalities.

A full report and videos are available on the CERN website.

​In November 2006, the last LHC dipole and quadrupole cold masses arrived at CERN, signalling the end of the industrial construction of the major components of the new 27-km particle collider (CERN Courier October 2006 p28 and January/February 2007 p25).

The LHC then entered the installation and the commissioning phases. In the same month, at the Elysée Palace in Paris, the ITER Agreement was signed by seven parties: China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US. The Agreement's ratification in October of the following year marked the start of a new mega-science project — ITER ... that in many respects is the heir of the LHC.

Both machines are based on, for example, a huge superconducting magnet system, large cryogenic plants of unmatched power, a large volume of ultra-high vacuum, a complex electrical powering system, sophisticated interlock and protection systems, high-technology devices and work in highly radioactive environments.

Read more on the CERN website.

​The University of Wisconsin Fusion Technology Institute, founded in 1971, has been a leader in fusion and plasma physics research, with a broad range of basic science, engineering, and applications programs.

The Institute has done pioneering experimental work using advanced helium-3 fuel to produce fusion energy. Dr. Kulcinski is the Director of the Institute, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, and Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering. He has led a scientific team which has doggedly pursued, and tirelessly promoted, research into the advanced fusion fuels, such as helium-3, which will create the energy for the future.

Read more in the Executive Intelligence Review

​For its fourth edition, the Low Carbon Earth Summit confirmed its role as a major annual event attracting an international audience concerned by—and involved in—the issue of sustainable development. About 1,000 participants from all over the world, two Nobel Laureates, and a hundred of presenters were present from 21 to 23 September in Qingdao, China; from a quantitative point of view the event was clearly successful.

And from a qualitative point of view as well, as the conference convincingly showed that we have entered a new age. Many examples of technological developments were presented that result or will result in a net decrease in carbon emissions.

The diversity of low-carbon initiatives around the world is absolutely impressive. Adaptation and mitigation of climate change are now embedded at all levels at the society (technology, law, education) and in all countries. In Australia, for example, the government has begun approaching groups that will be affected by the rise in ocean level to explore the possible actions. In China, Oxfam is conducting pilot projects in rural areas in order to evaluate the resilience of the food system and the vulnerability of the poorest to climate change. Legislation and law also need to be adapted. Studies conducted in several countries by the Swedish lawyer Peter Lohmander show that forests can be exploited in a sustainable way provided that regulations are modified. Many initiatives have been taken across all countries in educating people and raising public awareness. Hence the diversity of the participant's profiles: there are not many conferences today where you can find at the same table a lawyer, an economist, a farmer, a physicist and an entrepreneur.

Against this backdrop, I presented ITER as a genuine disruptive and innovative technology that is likely to change the course of our civilization.

As the world's most populated country and a key economic actor, China was obviously the focus of many discussions. During the opening session two Nobel Prize winners in economics, Edward Prescott (2004) and Sir Christopher Pissarides (2010), showed that the future of the Chinese "economic miracle" will depend on the government's capacity of reforming the country's economic institutions and significantly deregulating its services industry.

In this respect, said Sir Christopher, China has a historical opportunity "not make the same mistake as many European countries." The 2010 Nobel Prize winner added that he saw "China's opportunities in the globalized world as high technology manufacturing. Its research system is now mature enough to really start innovating."

-Michel Claessens, head of ITER Communication & External Relations

On 18 September, three trucks arrived from Italy loaded with equipment for ITER's Steady State Electrical Network (SSEN). The high voltage disconnectors and earthing switches were procured by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), which serves as the SSEN engineering support subcontractor to the US Domestic Agency, and manufactured by the Italian branch of Alstom.

​As the international ITER project to develop an experimental nuclear fusion reactor eats into research budgets around the world, an advisory panel to the US Department of Energy recommends mothballing at least one of three major experiments and focusing on research necessary to bring ITER online.

The Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) released its report on 22 September at a meeting in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The document outlines a 10-year plan for US nuclear fusion research for various budget scenarios, the most optimistic of which calls for "modest growth".

Nuclear fusion offers the potential for producing practically limitless energy by smashing heavy atoms of hydrogen into helium inside a burning 100-million-kelvin plasma and capturing the energy released by the reaction — but scientific and engineering challenges remain.

The report says the US should focus research initiatives on the biggest impediments to ITER's donut-like design, called a tokamak — how to control the writhing plasma at the reactor's core, and understanding how it interacts with surrounding material in order to engineer walls that can maintain the reaction.

Read more on Nature web site.

 

​Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine have produced a significant output of fusion neutrons, using a method fully functioning for only little more than a year. [...]

The experimental work is described in a paper to be published in the Sept. 24 Physical Review Letters online. A theoretical PRL paper to be published on the same date helps explain why the experimental method worked. The combined work demonstrates the viability of the novel approach. "We are committed to shaking this [fusion] tree until either we get some good apples or a branch falls down and hits us on the head," said Sandia senior manager Dan Sinars. He expects the project, dubbed MagLIF for magnetized liner inertial fusion, will be "a key piece of Sandia's submission for a July 2015 National Nuclear Security Administration review of the national Inertial Confinement Fusion Program." Inertial confinement fusion creates nanosecond bursts of neutrons, ideal for creating data to plug into supercomputer codes that test the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The method could be useful as an energy source down the road if the individual fusion pulses can be sequenced like an automobile's cylinders firing.   Read more on Sandia National Laboratories web site.

On 8-9 September the final acceptance meeting was held for the Cryostat Workshop. This 5,500-square-metre building will be the theatre for the assembly of the four main cryostat sections from 54 smaller segments manufactured in India.   As the contractor chosen by the Indian Domestic Agency for the construction and assembly of the ITER cryostat, Larsen & Toubro Limited is also in charge of the on-site cryostat worksite. The company awarded the construction contract to the French company SPIE Batignolles TPCI, who began work just over a year ago, in June 2013.   "Larsen & Toubro (L&T) takes pride in having completed the temporary workshop before the contractual delivery date," a company statement read. "This was possible due to the positive and collaborative efforts by all of the teams involved: SPIE Batignolles TPCI, Danieli (crane contractor), Currie & Brown (engineering), Apave (health and safety protection), ITER India and the ITER Organization. Larsen & Toubro is thankful to all of these teams for their role in achieving this feat."