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Fusion world

ITER Scientist Fellow appointed director of Spanish National Fusion Laboratory

5 Oct 2026 - Alberto Loarte, head of the Science Division

Professor Raúl Sánchez assumes the direction of the Spanish centre of reference for magnetically confined plasma fusion studies.

Professor Raúl Sánchez at the CIEMAT Spanish National Fusion Laboratory TJ-II stellarator. (Photo courtesy of CIEMAT)

Physicist Raúl Sánchez has been appointed as director of CIEMAT’s Spanish National Fusion Laboratory (LNF). The Laboratorio Nacional de Fusión (LNF) is the Spanish centre of reference for magnetically confined plasma fusion studies and is member of the EUROfusion Consortium. Research at the LNF, on a European and international level, revolves both around the study of high-temperature confined plasmas, and research into the technologies such as materials, superconductors, tritium production, energy extraction, and remote maintenance needed to construct and operate fusion reactors.

A professor at the Physics Department of Madrid’s Universidad Carlos III and an American Physical Society Fellow, Sánchez is also an ITER Scientist Fellow and one of the founding members of the group focused on pedestal confinement and stability modelling, created in 2016. His work focuses on the physics of plasma transport and magneto-hydrodynamic equilibria of fusion plasmas. Publications by G. F.-Torija Daza, et al., and J.M. Reynolds-Barredo, et al., are good examples of the work carried out under his leadership as ITER Scientist Fellow. 

Read more about the appointment of Raúl Sánchez as CIEMAT-LNF director in this article on the CIEMAT website (in Spanish).

ITER Science Division head Alberto Loarte meeting with members of the Pedestal Confinement and Stability Group in February 2020. Outside of the coordination meetings planned at the ITER site, much of the work between ITER Scientist Fellows and ITER coordinators takes place by email and teleconference.
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