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Scientist puts forward a sustainable energy plan where nuclear fuel is created using magnetic or laser fusion. News accounts are coming in daily confirming that the reliance on fossil fuels for energy is adversely affecting the world we live in: the National Climate Assessment detailed how climate change is creating havoc with our planet today and lists the burning of fossil fuels as the predominate cause; two teams of scientists just reported the irreversible glacial collapse of an Antarctic ice sheet as a result of warming ocean temperatures; and California's record drought and heat are producing wildfires and driving up food prices. It is evident that we must invest in alternative methods of energy production as soon as possible. Nuclear energy produces carbon free energy, and is responsible for 13% of the world's electricity today, but fission-based reactors present environmental hazards and utilize less than 1% of the fuel. Nuclear fusion has held promise that the process will provide clean energy with a limitless supply of fuel. However, decades of research have not produced a viable nuclear fusion power plant. Is there another path forward? In the June issue of the Journal of Fusion Energy, Dr. Wallace Manheimer has laid out a plan that would enable Fusion Breeding as a means to meet mid-century energy needs, based on the scientific underpinnings of current fusion technology and on current nuclear infrastructure. In this approach, a Fusion Reactor is designed to not only produce electricity, but also to create nuclear fuel that can run thermal nuclear reactors. A fusion breeder is about ten times as a prolific a fuel producer as a fission breeder, i.e. a fast neutron fission reactor such as the Integral Fast Reactor. Read the whole article on phys.org website

At Cadarache (south of France), the Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (CEA/DSM/IRFM) is modifying the Tore Supra plasma facility to become a test platform open to all ITER partners : the WEST project (acronym derived from W Environment in Steady-state Tokamak, where W is the chemical symbol for tungsten).

The goal is to equip the tokamak with an actively cooled tungsten divertor, benefitting from its unique long pulse capabilities, its high level of additional power and the unique experience of operation with actively cooled components.

Read the latest news from the WEST project in the attached document.

​On 21 May, directly after the regular class schedule, students, graduates and young scientists of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology had the chance to meet representatives of the Russian Domestic Agency. The exchange was organized as part of ITER Day to inform Russia's future physicists about the international collaboration for fusion, progress in its implementation, and the ongoing activities in Russia carried out within its framework.

The head of the Russian Domestic Agency, Anatoly Krasilnikov, stressed that attraction of young scientists for fusion is based not only on the potential of the ITER Project, but also the national development program for the construction of a domestic fusion facility. "This is the decades-long project and we need highly qualified personnel to work for it!" ITER Russia is intensifying its activities to inform and attract the best minds.

During ITER Day, students heard about development work on a number of diagnostic systems for ITER (reflectometry, neutron diagnostics, optical systems) underway in Russian institutes where, the speakers stressed, employments opportunities exist.

​A six-kilometre-long channel, the Canal de Caronte, leads from the Mediterranean Gulf of Fos into the inland sea Étang de Berre. At its narrowest along the south shore of the island that encloses the old town of Martigues, its width does not exceed 25 metres.

On Monday 31 March, the barge carrying the 800-ton ITER test convoy deftly negotiated the canal and passed under the Martigues drawbridge, a spectacular sight that marks the entrance into the Étang de Berre.

​ITER's Pulsed Power Electrical Network (PPEN) will supply alternating current (AC) power to the machine's superconducting coils and heating and current drive systems. The Chinese Domestic Agency has full responsibility for the procurement of this powerful system; recently Manufacturing Readiness Reviews held at three industrial suppliers proved the high standards of design carried out so far and the readiness of the detailed work plans and execution processes.

In the presence of a large number of Chinese experts as well as representatives from the ITER Organization, reviews were held on six system sub-packages in April. For the technical issues identified, a work schedule has been established. A major step forward toward manufacturing has been achieved for the PPEN, which will distribute up to 500 MW of continuous power during operational pulses.

​The European Domestic Agency for ITER, Fusion for Energy, has signed a four-year Framework Partnership Agreement with a consortium formed by European research centres—DTU Denmark and IST-IPFN Portugal—for the development and design of the Collective Thompson Scattering diagnostic for ITER.

The primary objective of the Collective Thomson Scattering (CTS) diagnostic is to monitor fast ion behaviour across the plasma radius in seven locations. Fast ions are elusive particles that are a natural consequence of the fusion process and plasma heating techniques. Although they represent less than five percent of plasma density, fast ions carry up to one-third of the plasma's kinetic energy. Optimizing their confinement within the plasma is important as they play a major part in sustaining the high plasma temperatures required for fusion by colliding with—and transferring their energy to—the 'bulk' particles in the plasma.

However, fast ions behave unpredictably; while some remain within the magnetic field, others escape the plasma and reduce confinement, or 'cause mischief' by contributing their energy to and amplifying plasma disturbances.

The CTS diagnostic system will consist of mirrors and antennas integrated into one of the equatorial ports of the ITER machine. The upper antenna and mirrors will launch a powerful, single and high frequency microwave beam (1 MW at 60 GHz, equivalent to 1,000 microwave ovens at full power) into the plasma and record the scattered electromagnetic waves through the lower mirrors and receiver antennas. These measurements will allow scientists to establish the dynamics and distribution of the ions in the plasma—in particular the fast ions.

​Every other year, Turkey organizes the International Conference on Superconductivity and Magnetism (ICSM). On 27 April-2 May, the fourth edition of the conference was held in Antalya, on the southwestern coast of the country, gathering more than 1,000 scientists from all over the world.

At the special opening plenary session on 27 April, after a welcome speech by Annette Bussmann-Holder from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State, the next speaker gave a recollection of his long experience researching oxides: Alexander Müller, who earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987 with Georg Bednorz, had just celebrated his 87th birthday and recalled having participated in the 1958 Geneva conference where the concept of tokamak was first discussed outside Russia. He is also the co-author of a patent on spherical plasma confinement.   Arnaud Devred, ITER Superconductor Section Leader, had the privilege of speaking just after Alexander Müller. His general presentation on the ITER Project focused on the magnet systems and detailed the present status of manufacturing. "I sensed a real interest in ITER," he says, "particularly from Prof. Ali Gencer, who chaired the conference and is a strong promoter of the project in government circles."

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Physicists have uncovered a surprisingly straightforward strategy for turning light into matter.   The design, published in Nature Photonics, adapts technology used in fusion research and can be implemented at existing facilities in the UK. Several locations could now enter a race to convert photons into positrons and electrons for the very first time.   This would prove an 80-year-old theory by Breit and Wheeler, who themselves thought physical proof was impossible. Now, according to researchers from Imperial College London, that proof is within reach.   Prof Steven Rose and his PhD student, Oliver Pike, told the BBC it could happen within a year.   "With a good experimental team, it should be quite doable," said Mr Pike.   If the experiment comes to fruition, it will be the final piece in a puzzle that began in 1905, when Einstein accounted for the photoelectric effect with his model of light as a particle.

 

Read the whole article on bbc.com.

 

Visit the EFDA website to read the May issue of Fusion in Europe on line.

Article highlights include the latest news on the establishment of EUROfusion—the umbrella organization of European fusion research that will succeed EFDA; upgrade work on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST); this year's work program for JET, currently the largest functioning tokamak in the world; and news from some of the younger faces of fusion.

Consult Fusion in Europe here.  

In this video, Prof. Predhiman Krishan Kaw, the former Director of the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar, India, speaks about his life, research in plasma physics and ... ITER.