What’s New

20 October 2014

ITER news digest for the period of 13 October 2014 to 20 October 2014.

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Featured (4)

Of interest (5)

Press (8)

Featured

25th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference: Expanding the frontier of fusion

What happens when night falls on fusion labs?

Conductor production keeps progressing

Large cryogenic pellets to advance new fusion technology

Manufacturing for acceleration grid power supplies has started in India

Manufacturing is underway in India for the acceleration grid power supplies that will be supplied to the SPIDER test bed in Italy as well as to ITER's diagnostic neutral beam.

The technical specifications for both acceleration grid power supplies are similar (system rated for 96 kVDC, 75 A). The SPIDER test bed is designed to finalize the development of the ion sources required for the ITER neutral beam injectors and to test all essential aspects of the diagnostic neutral beam accelerator.

Following the Final Design Review held in August 2013 for the acceleration grid power supplies, a Manufacturing Readiness Review was conducted early this year at the Indian Domestic Agency with the participation of the ITER Organization and ECIL, the Indian manufacturer responsible for the fabrication of the system and its installation at the SPIDER test bed in Padua, Italy.

Major components of the acceleration grid power supplies—60 kW water-cooled switched power supply modules and 2.8 MVA oil-cooled multi-secondary transformers—are presently being inspected at intermediate stages and the factory acceptance test for the first batch is scheduled for the end of November 2014.

Discussions are also being held with local support agencies for SPIDER site works with coordination assistance from the Consorzio RFX team in Padua.

Dilshad Sulaiman, ITER India

17 Oct 2014

Permalink : https://www.iter.org/of-interest?id=386

Russia and China to develop hybrid reactor

Russia is developing a hybrid nuclear reactor that uses both nuclear fusion and fission, said head of leading nuclear research facility. The project is open for international collaboration, particularly from Chinese scientists.

A hybrid nuclear reactor is a sort of stepping stone to building a true nuclear fusion reactor. It uses a fusion reaction as a source of neutrons to initiate a fission reaction in a 'blanket' of traditional nuclear fuel.

The approach has a number of potential benefits in terms of safety, non-proliferation and cost of generated energy, and Russia is developing such a hybrid reactor, according to Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the Kurchatov Research Center.

"Today we have started the realization of a distinctively new project. We are trying to combine a schematically operational nuclear plant reactor with a 'tokamak' to create a hybrid reactor," he told RIA Novosti, referring to a type of fusion reactor design.

Photo: Director of the Kurchatov Research Center Mikhail Kovalchuk

Read the whole story on the Russia Today website and also (in Russian) on the Newsland website.

17 Oct 2014

Permalink : https://www.iter.org/of-interest?id=387

Three hours with an ITER physicist on web radio

The German science and engineering website Tau Omega recently featured a three-hour audio interview of ITER physicist Richard Pitts. The program focuses on the physics and the engineering challenges of ITER, but also addresses some of the unique organizational aspects of the project.

15 Oct 2014

Permalink : https://www.iter.org/of-interest?id=385

General Atomics physicist gets top fusion award

A General Atomics physicist has won one of the most prestigious awards in fusion energy research, it was announced this week at a major international scientific conference in Russia.

Dr. Philip Snyder, who works in General Atomics' San Diego headquarters, received the 2014 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Fusion Prize. The award was announced at the biennial conference during the opening ceremony of the 25th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference being held 13-18 October in St. Petersburg.

Dr. Snyder won the prize for his published scientific paper judged to provide the most impact in nuclear fusion over the last two years. Dr. Snyder has spent the last 15 years working in fusion research at General Atomics, where he serves as Director of Theory and Computational Science for the Energy and Advanced Concepts Group.

Read more on the Energy Industry Today website.

15 Oct 2014

Permalink : https://www.iter.org/of-interest?id=384

World's largest fusion conference opens in St. Petersburg

The 25th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2014) will be held from 13 to 18 October 2014 in Saint Petersburg, the Russian Federation.

The event, hosted by the Government of the Russian Federation through the Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation, provides a forum for the discussion of key physics and technology issues as well as innovative concepts of direct relevance to fusion as a source of nuclear energy. The Conference is the world's largest conference in the field of nuclear fusion.

Thematic sessions on topics such as fusion engineering, fusion nuclear physics and technology, innovative confinement concepts and more will be held as part of the Conference, which also includes the awarding of a Nuclear Fusion Prize for outstanding achievements in nuclear fusion.

The IAEA hosts an International Conference on Nuclear Fusion Energy every second year. More information is available at the conference website.

13 Oct 2014