ITER NEWSLINE
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Swiss Plasma Center: a new name for a strengthened role
Swiss Plasma Center: a new name for a strengthened role
The TCV tokamak, built in 1992, is unique in its ability to produce plasma in different shapes. With a CHF 10 million grant from the Swiss government, the research device will be upgraded.
On Tuesday 22 September, the Center for Research in Plasma Physics (CRPP) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne became the Swiss Plasma Center in the presence of officials from the
EUROfusion consortium for the development of fusion energy and the Director-General of the ITER Project, Bernard Bigot.
The change of name heralds a new era for the research centre, which hosts the Variable Configuration Tokamak TCV. Following a CHF 10 million grant from the Swiss government, the Center will upgrade its facilities and expand its scope of activities. New experiments will be carried out on the TCV tokamak—particularly in relation to extracting energy and particles from the plasma—and new mechanisms for heating the plasma with microwaves and with the injection of neutral particles may be installed. The Center is also expanding its sector of research to lower density and lower temperature plasmas in order to explore new applications for plasma.
The Center for Research in Plasma Physics (CRPP) became the Swiss Plasma Center on 22 September 2015.
TCV is a variable configuration tokamak for the study of differently shaped cross-sections of the plasma. Through its highly specialized capabilities (i.e., plasma shaping, versatile electron cyclotron heating, measurement and control systems) research on TCV supports ITER and also explores the way to a prototype fusion reactor.
Read the full press release in English or French here ("press kit and releases"). The CRPP website has also changed. You can find the Swiss Plasma Center here. Read an interview with Director Ambrogio Fasoli here.
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