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​The latest news from the European Domestic Agency for ITER has been published in the February issue of F4E News, which can be consulted here. 

​Ravi B. Grover, head of the Indian delegation to the ITER Council, was honoured by the Government of India on the occasion of Republic Day (26 January 2014) with the fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri. 

Dr Grover is the principal adviser of the Department of Atomic Energy in India, a member of the Atomic Energy Commission, and director of the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI).

He played a pivotal role during negotiations with various governments and the IAEA towards opening international civil nuclear trade between India and other countries. He also played a key role in the negotiations leading up to India joining the ITER Project as a full partner in 2005. He conceptualized and set up the HBNI as a university-level institution.

The ITER community congratulates Dr Grover on his distinguished award.

​What is matter? What is energy? What holds matter together? How do the various constituents of the universe interact at the most basic level? Where does the Earth sit in relation to the rest of the universe? Can we predict the movements of the stars?

Physics gives us the knowledge to address remarkable questions like these. But knowledge is also power: a better understanding of these laws, allows us to improve the ways we interact with, and harness our environment. And if you look at the rapid development in human technology over the past two centuries, it is amazing just how much technological change has been derived from advances in physics.

Perhaps the most clear-cut example in this respect is the dramatic transformation that electricity has brought about in all modern societies. Our whole way of living now is completely dependent upon being able to generate, transmit, and harness electric power in a safe and efficient manner — all of which is ultimately underpinned by our understanding of physics.

Keeping up with the ever growing demand for generating electricity with minimal environmental impact will be a significant challenge in the years to come.

Read the full article by the Australian political journalist at PhysOrg. 

​Two new videos produced by the Russian Domestic Agency for ITER highlight the contributions of the Kurchatov Institute (Moscow) and the Ioffe Institute (St Petersburg) to the Project.

Both Institutes are responsible for supplying high performance diagnostic systems to the ITER machine. Follow the work-in-progress at the following links:

Kurchatov Institute

Ioffe Institute

​The EAST Tokamak team at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), has won the 2013 National Science and Technology Progress Award for its years of unremitting innovation and teamwork. This comes after winning a prize in 2008 for the successful construction and commissioning of EAST.  

This top annual Chinese award recognizes advancements in the natural sciences, technological innovation and science and technology. Jiangang Li, ASIPP director, accepted the award on behalf of the EAST team in a ceremony on 10 January.

The EAST Tokamak team is one of the three recipients of the Innovation Team prize among the 188 laureates of the 2013 Science and Technology Progress Award.

​The European Commission has launched a prize to reward excellence in innovation in the fusion research program as well as the quality of the researchers and industries involved.

Participants are free to submit an application for any physics or technological innovation developed within the European Fusion research program that has demonstrated market potential.

An independent jury appointed by the European Commission will evaluate the proposals and rank the first, second and third place winners who will receive EUR 15,000, 10,000 and 5,000 respectively. Winners will be announced at the SOFT conference in September 2014.

For more detailed information on general conditions and eligibility, click here.

​The Oxford City Deal investment into hi-tech research laboratories and businesses in Oxfordshire, announced this week, was particularly good news for Culham Centre of Fusion Energy, operated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority. A major element of this initiative sees the UK government investing £7.8 million (with matching funds from industry) into a remote applications facility, to be based at a brand new building at Culham.

The facility is part of a broader programme of activities in automated and remote handling and is planned to be built in 2015 and operating in 2016. It will enable CCFE and partner organisations (National Nuclear Laboratory, The Welding Institute Technology Centre, National Physical Laboratory and Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre) to offer their expertise in remote interventions and autonomous systems to a wider commercial sector.

[...]

With the addition of expertise from the project partners, including remote and autonomous working in challenging environments and remote welding techniques, the new centre will offer industry access to an unparalleled concentration of test facilities and expertise to develop and apply technology of remote applications. [...] Fusion research will benefit from the centre as well. Building on CCFE's considerable expertise in remote handling, the centre will enable ever more complex remote handling techniques to be perfected — essential for the efficient and reliable performance of maintenance tasks in the harsh environment inside ITER. And the centre will support CCFE's intention to host one of the design centres for DEMO — the demonstration fusion power reactor expected to follow ITER. 

Read the full article here.

​The fourth issue of NFRI News was released in January. Click on the link below for the latest news from Korea on research in plasma science and fusion energy.

At the end of January, the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) presented Kiswire Advanced Technology (KAT) with a plaque in appreciation of its outstanding contribution to the ITER Project.

In November 2013, Korea became the first Domestic Agency to complete the production of niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) strand for ITER's toroidal field conductors. In four years, the manufacturer KAT fabricated 93 tons of Nb3Sn strand—completing the full Korean contribution to ITER toroidal field conductors.

​Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, many questions remain, but an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team is providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.

Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, examines the role of chemical dopants, which are essential to creating high-temperature superconductors — materials that conduct electricity without resistance. The role of dopants in superconductors is particularly mysterious as they introduce non-uniformity and disorder into the crystal structure, which increases resistivity in non-superconducting materials.

By gaining a better understanding of how and why chemical dopants alter the behavior of the original (parent) material, scientists believe they can design superconductors that work at higher temperatures. This would make them more practical for real-world wire applications because it would lessen the extreme cooling required for conventional superconducting material.

Read the full Press Release here.