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​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.

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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.