Eurofusion Works Its Six-Pack for Iter Going Full Computational Throttle How Jet Inspired the Sound of the Universe

FUSION IN EUROPE NEWS & VIEWS ON THE PROGRESS OF FUSION RESEARCH

EUROFUSION WORKS ITS SIX-PACK FOR ITER GOING FULL COMPUTATIONAL THROTTLE HOW JET INSPIRED THE SOUND OF THE UNIVERSE

2 2016 FUSION IN EUROPE | Moving Forward | EUROfusion | 2 2016 Contents COLLABORATE. ELABORATE. CREATE. The world’s biggest magnet: If you are looking for success in fusion research, you are holding the right Representatives of F4E, ITER IO Moving Forward magazine in your hands. Of course, collaborations will always have draw- and F4E contractors standing inside the first ITER Toroidal backs. Especially when 27 nations are involved and, what is more, sensitive Field coil winding pack. It took EUROfusion and highly complex machines are sometimes a bit moody. more than 600 people from 3 Collaborate. Elaborate. Create. 26 companies to complete the manufacture. 4 EUROfusion works its six-pack for ITER EUROfusion aims to demonstrate that fusion electricity can become reality. Picture: Fusion for Energy © 8 Impressions Moreover, EUROfusion shows what can be achieved as a result of challen- 10 EUROfusion goes full computational throttle ging multinational projects: a world record, for example. In collaboration MARIE-LINE MAYORAL with the Swiss Plasma Center, a lab of the Italian ENEA created a super- Recently, Marie-Line Mayoral became Broader Approach EUROfusion’s Experimental Program- conducting cable which exceeds even ITER’s demands in terms of current. mes group leader. This means, she ma- nages the experimental programmes for 12 JT-60SA vessel ready for passengers Also, researchers at the upcoming test tokamak WEST were scratching EUROfusion funded facilities such as the medium sized tokamaks, Wendelstein their expert heads to find a solution for their diagnostics and went ahead Market Place 7-X and upcoming MAST and WEST. using tiny instruments made from brittle tungsten. Who did they call in to 14 Introducing alternative fusion concepts: help? KIT in Germany. After teaming up, they managed to create 70 sensi- Tri Alpha Energy tive pieces designed to aid fusion progress.

Research Units The staff at the medium sized tokamaks ASDEX-Upgrade and TCV, the big fusion experiment JET and celebrity stellarator Wendelstein 7-X, will surely 14 16 Brittle me this have something to say about team work. Take a look at Fusion in Europe to 18 A superconducting cable breaks records Picture: Piru de la Puente discover what happened in the vessels of those machines over the course Community of the last half year.

People As the EUROfusion quartet consisting of three tokamaks and one stellarator powers up, there is a group of enthusiasts who will make them even more STEFFEN ANTUSCH 20 How JET inspires the sound of the universe popular. Five friends join to give fusion a voice beyond European borders. Steffen Antusch knows brittleness by heart. The materials expert from Karls 22 Taking the latest of fusion research Although Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have a history back home ruhe helped the French team at the in this research, the local universities no longer provide lectures on fusion. WEST tokamak to find a solution for 24 Young faces of fusion – Meriame Berboucha The recently established Fusion Education Network is about to fight that tiny diagnostics which must survive in a harsh environment. Finally, 70 Lang- News and take home what the European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion muir probes were sent from Karlsruhe 25 The European Innovation Council / and Engineering Physics gave them: an idea of collaboration, an elaborate to Cadarache. Nature Physics Insight project management and the creation of something new. 20 Perspectives

Picture: ENEA 26 Summing Up

EUROfusion © Tony Donné (EUROfusion Programme Manager) Imprint Programme Management Unit – Garching 2016. FUSION IN EUROPE Boltzmannstr. 2 This newsletter or parts of it may not be reproduced ISSN 1818-5355 85748 Garching / Munich, Germany without permission. Text, pictures and layout, except phone: +49-89-3299-4128 where noted, courtesy of the EUROfusion members. LUIGI MUZZI The EUROfusion members are the Research Units email: [email protected] We can’t really tell what it was that put of the European Fusion Programme. Responsibility editors: Petra Nieckchen, Anne Purschwitz the smile on the face of Italian resear- for the information and views expressed in this cher Luigi Muzzi. Maybe it was the major newsletter lies entirely with the authors. Neither success in his research on superconduc- Subscribe at [email protected] the Research Units or anyone acting on their behalf ting cables. Luigi and a team from ENEA’s For more information see the /fusion2050 @PetraonAir is responsible for any damage resulting from the superconductivity lab have achieved a solution which satisfies the demands of website: www.euro-fusion.org @FusionInCloseUp @APurschwitz use of information contained in this publication. the first fusion power plant, DEMO.

3 FUSION IN EUROPE | Moving Forward | EUROfusion |

f someone was definitely not in hiberna- EUROFUSION WORKS Ition, it was EUROfusion during the past half year. In February, the three tokamaks ITS SIX-PACK FOR ITER JET, ASDEX Upgrade and TCV were running simultaneously, accompanied by the first experimental campaign of the shiny new Wendelstein 7-X device. Two more experiments, MAST-U and WEST, are also about to flex their muscles.

AN OVERACHIEVEMENT morning in brief stand-up meetings. What EUROfusion’s man in the W7-X control was originally designed as an informative room is Andreas Dinklage. He seems pro- gathering to communicate updates on the foundly content as he reports on the fina- technical status of the machine to a selec- lised operation in Greifswald. About 40 ted few, became an open discussion for percent of the hydrogen plasmas created everyone in the control room. in the stellarator could be used for pure “Our task is to ensure that we get scientific results. “An overachievement”, CARRYING THE RISK ON ALL SHOULDERS the most out of the results”, says EUROfusion’s Experi he calls it. Dinklage’s ‘One-team approach’ is rather mental Programmes Group Leader Marie-Line Mayo- TCV, the tokamak from the Swiss Research Unit, with a one-programme approach. At other, well ral. Therefore, EUROfusion’s scientific programme in the Neutral Beam on the established, fusion devices around Europe the ITER Physics Department has been organised into left and the Phase Contrast and Switzerland, the experiments are se- Imaging diagnostic on the Overall, we shot 14 work packages. Most of the deliverables from the right. Picture: SPC parated into a home programme which is work packages rely on the results of current or future about 940 discharge owned by the hosting Research Unit and the EUROfusion work package program- campaigns in the Joint European Torus (JET), the Axi- programmes. me, even though the programmes as a ally Symmetric Divertor Experiment (ASDEX) Upgrade, Andreas Dinklage, whole are fully aligned along the Fusion Project Leader of the EUROfusion Work Package Roadmap. The time for each programme the Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) as well as ‘Preparation and exploitation of the W7-X campaign’ in the upcoming Tungsten (W) Environment in Steady- on the machine depends on the arranged state Tokamak (WEST) and the upgrade of the Mega payment.

Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST). This is deman- THE ‘ONE-TEAM’ APPROACH In Greifswald, every participating team, ding for the consortium, which not only promotes high The premiere Wendelstein 7-x campaign whether it be the Max Planck internal re- priority experiments but also coordinates scientists enabled unique workflows to set up open searchers, EUROfusion’s scientists or the from 29 European Research Units and further, ensu- exchange and moreover, to apply to the US delegation are able to carry the risks daily status of the shiny new machine. and benefits. “We didn’t care who paid how res the scientific exchange within the community. Of Dinklage proudly calls it the ‘One-team much but conducted a joint programme course, the consortium also contributes financially. approach’. During the three months of guided by scientific priorities, possibilities the campaign, the researchers met every and quality.”

4 5 FUSION IN EUROPE | Moving Forward | EUROfusion |

The Swiss tokamak was so happy Dinklage and Task Force Leader Arturo Alonso are DRILLING HOLES IN THE VESSEL tokamaks. “I am happy that we opened up our about its new feature that it shared currently evaluating the feedback from all participants. Meanwhile, the European tokamak team is pul- control room for this fruitful exchange with in- a message on Twitter on April 18: Whether the next campaign, after installing the non-cooling their own weight. One device in Switzerland ternational scientists. The atmosphere is very led divertor and new plasma facing components, is able to has been working hard to keep up with its bro- collegial, much more than it has been before”, maintain this open spirit will depend on the results. ther ASDEX Upgrade. “We have almost a new says Coda. I have a new gyrotron, machine with the installed Neutral Beam Injec- NO COMPETITION WITHIN THE FAMILY PREPARE THE HEIR a microwave source, tor”, reports Stefano Coda. It took the compa- Exciting times for stellarator research when, so far, the tony, which originally built the Swiss tokamak in The step ladder approach to fusion experiments which is quite powerful kamak is the concept of choice for fusion research. “There is 1992, almost three weeks to properly set up the is shown by the choice of fuel: first, hydrogen no competition. But Wendelstein must prove that we have machine for its new assets. Workers sat in the or helium, then deuterium and at the end, the (750‘000 Watts), stepped up to modern tokamaks. W7-X was built to miti vessel and slowly drilled three holes in the wall most powerful fusion fuel, deuterium and tri- to warm me up! gate most of the stellarator’s drawbacks. Fusion science is to enlarge the gap for the new heating system. tium. When ITER will operate in its so-called not a race between tokamaks and stellarators , as they are, ‘active phase’ it will use the nuclear fuel triti- I‘m eager to try it! most of all, a journey in which every unit complements the GO THE LONG WAY um, the top of the ladder. EUROfusion now next on route to creating an economic reasonable fusion investigates ITER’s ‘non-active phase’. Hence, For more updates from TCV power plant”, states Dinklage. The heating at the new stel- ASDEX Upgrade and TCV have run helium itself follow the machine larator should, for example, deliver important results for experiments during the first half of the year. on Twitter: @TCV_tokamak. ITER’s future plasma. TCV is fully integrated in JET will complement the preparations of ITER’s non-active phase with a hydrogen campaign EUROfusion’s MST1 family. this summer. We are already intensely A WIDE RANGE OF ASSETS interacting with the results W7-X (Wendelstein 7-X) Type: Stellarator from ASDEX Upgrade. Location: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Greifswald (Germany) Stefano Coda, EUROfusion connects all First helium plasma: Dec. 10, 2015 Deputy Task Force Leader of Operational schedule: EUROfusion’s MST campaigns machines in support of Dec. 10, 2015 – March 10, 2016 IPP Current status: Shutdown for divertor upgrade / ITER and ultimately of the until second half of 2017 Number of scientists participating: about 100 According to the original schedule, experiments fusion power plan. Results of the first campaign: on the enhanced TCV would have overlapped · first studies of plasma initiation with ECRH, with research at the established ASDEX Upgra- Xavier Litaudon, confinement, impurity transport, power and Head of EUROfusion’s particle exhaust de in Garching. EUROfusion decided then to ITER Physics department · 20 diagnostics successfully installed EUROfusion Picture: JET (Joint European Torus ) shift the start of the campaign in Switzerland Location: Culham Centre · pulse lenghts up to 6s of Fusion Energy CCFE · variations of the magnetic configuration from January to April 2016. On the one hand, it (United Kingdom) · first O2 heating demonstrated reduced the extra pressure on the teams working Every machine in the EUROfusion programme Recent upgrades: · re-instated ITER-like antenna in both Germany and Switzerland. On the other, has its unique features which serve the latest · optimised pellet injection track EUROfusion then needed to reorganise the iti- fusion research: TCV possesses a flexible ma- · new massive gas injection neraries of more than 200 scientists. gnetic field and the new heating system. AS- valve TCV (Tokamak à Operation Schedule: Configuration Variable) ASDEX (Axially Symmetric Divertor DEX owns a tungsten first wall. JET maintains EXperiment) Upgrade · Hydrogen plasma: Type: Medium Size 60 VALUABLE SHOTS unique capabilities which enables it to operate July until Sept 2016 Tokamak (MST) Type: Medium Size Tokamak (MST) · Deuterium plasma: Location: Swiss Plasma Location: Max Planck Institute for Plasma This spring, Coda is quite busy and hard to with a deuterium-tritium mixture surrounded Sept until Oct 2016 Center, Lausanne Physics (IPP) in Garching (Germany) catch on the phone. He will spend hours in the by an ITER like wall. And that is not all, the Number of scientists On-going upgrades: On-going upgrades: participating: 451 · increase in electron cyclotron · increase in electron cyclotron resonance control room during the peak period from April EUROfusion family will welcome two more Focus of the JET campaign: resonance heating (ECRH) power heating (ECRH) power until July. “We are able to operate with a total mates into the tokamak team: the upgrade of · development of baseline and · addition of a neutral beam · divertor electron density and temperature hybrid scenarios in preparation injector (NBI) measurements (Thomson Scattering) rate of 130 shots per week and we can now gua- MAST in Culham will be EUROfusion’s first of the JET DT Campaign Operation Schedule: Operation schedule: Jan 11 – May 19, 2016 rantee the 60 per week as is necessary to deliver spherical tokamak. The other device WEST, · exploration of highly radiating April 11 – July 29, 2016 Current status: scientific results”, he says. hosted in French Cardarache, is the only Eu- scenarios Number of MST scientists: 173 shutdown until 2nd half of Jan. 2017 · disruption studies with a Focus of the MST 1 campaign: Number of MST1 scientists: 320 ropean tokamak which comes with an actively mitigation system in an investigating snowflake Focus of the MST 1 campaign : AN OPEN SWISS CONTROL ROOM cooled divertor. It will start operating as a test ITER-like configuration divertor configurations · demonstration of ELM mitigation and/or · exploitation of the shaping suppression (magnetic coils and pellets) The outcome will materialise in mutual scien- in autumn this year. When others go into hiber- flexibility and new heating · divertor heat load control with high radiation tific papers from researchers dealing with both nation, EUROfusion powers up. n source upgrade for alternative power fraction in ITER-relevant scenarios divertor geometry and ELMy · disruption mitigation and control 6 H-mode studies 7 FUSION IN EUROPE | Moving Forward | EUROfusion | IMPRESSIONS ImpressionsImpressionsIMPRESSIONS 11 10 Impressions 7

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1 The ITER Robots contest organised in May by Agence ITER France, the ITER Organization, the French Aix-Marseille Academy and the Magnetic Fusion Institute IRFM attracted over 500 students. As part of a for-credit school project, the teams designed and programmed Lego robots to accomplish ITER-like remote handling tasks. Picture: Christophe Roux (CEA)/ITER 2 The ITER Robots final. Picture: Christophe Roux/CEA 5 UK Science Minister Jo Johnson MP trying the JET Remote Handling system during his visit to Culham in May. 3 A picture of actively cooled tungsten compo- Picture: © Copyright protected by United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority nents recently delivered to the french Research 6 ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot at Culham’s new Materials Research Facility. Picture: EUROfusion Unit CEA-IRFM. Picture: Christophe Roux/CEA 7 Sneak peak into the control room of the Swiss Tokamak à configuration variable (TCV). Picture: SPC 4 ITER‘s Director-General Bernard Bigot shakes 8 Cover of the Nature Physics Insight – Nuclear Fusion May 2016 Volume 12, No 5. Picture: Nature Physics hands with EUROfusion‘s Programme Manager, 9 Lorne Horton (left), JET‘s Exploitation Manager (EC), talks to Bernard Bigot in Culham. Tony Donné, in front of the big wall picture of Picture: © Copyright protected by United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority JET‘s vessel at the Culham Centre for Fusion 10 MAST Upgrade’s vacuum vessel being moved into place – a significant step for the project to rebuild the UK fusion experiment. Energy. Picture: © Copyright protected by Picture: © Copyright protected by United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority 8 United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority 11 WEST‘s actively cooled tungsten components from another angle (see picture 3). Picture: Christophe Roux/CEA 9 FUSION IN EUROPE | Moving Forward | EUROfusion |

usion research needs High Performance Computing. So far, MUCH FASTER THAN YOUR LAPTOP Performance Computers. Along with EUROfusion’s Res- F EUROfusion took advantage of the Japan-based supercomputer Since 2013 the Japanese Helios had been computing com- ponsible Officer Irina Voitsekhovitch he collaborates clo- plex simulations for EUROfusion. The machine had a peak sely with ENEA and its third party CINECA, the Italian Helios. Now, that Helios will be phasing out by the end of 2016, the performance of around 1.5 petaflops, or floating point non-profit consortium which has set up Marconi-Fusion. fusion consortium decided to go full steam ahead. EUROfusion has operations per second. It measures the number of calculations the computer can run simultaneously in one second. ENEA IS GOING TO HANDLE IT finally bought parts of a modern supercomputer in Italy which will For comparison, a modern personal computer could run In 2015 EUROfusion’s highest decision-making body, the 200 gigaflop of operations in one second. In comparison: General Assembly, has chosen to allow Italian Research demonstrate head spinning capabilities. the Helios computer in Japan is already 10,000 times faster Unit ENEA to handle the system. They have worked out a than an ordinary laptop. joint development agreement with CINECA which hosts the new supercomputer. EUROfusion will use only part FLOP, FLOP of Marconi’s computational powers. The other half will Once it is completely set up, which will be in the middle be used for Cineca’s internal work and tasks within the of 2017, the young and fresh Italian Marconi-Fusion com- Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) puter should be capable of a total computational power which supports multi-disciplinary research in Europe. of around 6 petaflop per second thanks to the modern While the supercomputer currently runs some tests for EUROFUSION generation of Intel Xeon processors. A petaflop means EUROfusion, the machine will officially be launched in 1015 operations per second, a total of a one quadrillion September this year, with first fusion calculations foreseen head-spinning calculations in the very same moment. This from 1 October 2017 onwards. n GOES FULL is what you need in order to be able to identify the origins of plasma turbulences. These turbulences could, in a worst case scenario, destroy the fusion experiment. COMPUTATIONAL TESTING YOUR CAR VIRTUALLY “It is like testing a new car. You could crash a real car but Read about the previous steps that’s a very expensive experiment. So, even automotive from the High Performance manufacturers use computer simulations in order to see, Computer For Fusion to THROTTLE for instance, how materials will respond in the event of a Helios here: crash“, says Roman Hatzky, the leader of EUROfusion’s High Level Support team. His support team helps scien- www.euro-fusion.org/newsletter/high- tists to optimise their plasma simulation codes for High performance-computer-for-fusion-goes-offline/

Irina Voitsekhovitch (leftmost) in talks with Elda Rossi (CINECA) at the supercomputing facility in Italy. The machine will be hosted in Bologna.

Irina Voitsekhovitch (leftmost) with François Robin from CEA (in the back) and Carlo Cavazzoni from CINECA during a first inspection of the newly set up supercomputer. Pictures: Mbou Margherita Libouri/Cineca

10 11 FUSION IN EUROPE | Broader Approach |

JT-60SA VESSEL (from left to right) Darren McDonald For basic information have a look (EUROfusion), Elena de la Luna (CIEMAT), Jeronimo Garcia (CEA), at the article ‘Planning the Gerardo Giruzzi (CEA and Work- research programme for JT-60SA’ READY FOR PASSENGERS package Leader), Mathias Dibon in Fusion in Europe 2/2014 (MPG), and Valerie Lamaison who is from CEA but currently based at Naka and working on the www.euro-fusion.org/newsletter/ cryo-system. Picture: QST planning-the-research-programme-for-jt-60sa

here are large dimensions in fusion science. European and TJapanese researchers recently experienced them physically. Whilst coming together for an update meeting at the construction site of the Japan Torus 60 Super Advanced, they had the oppor-

tunity to climb into the captivating interior of the tokamak. The Satellite Tokamak Program is one of three large pro- currently being shipped to Japan. Moreover, the cryostat jects covered by the Broader Approach agreement conclu- base, the cryoplant, the quench protection circuit (QPC), ded between the European Atomic Energy Community the lower Equilibrium Field coils, and the vacuum vessel (Euratom) and Japan. It consists of the construction of the thermal shield have been already installed. All but one Japanese Torus 60 Super Advanced (JT-60SA): a comple- segment of the vacuum vessel, the heart of the JT-60SA, tely new load assembly replacing the original JT-60 site in have been positioned and welded into place. In May this Naka in Japan. year, scientists took the opportunity to slip in through this current gap to explore what has been assembled so far. FUSION FOR ENERGY AND EUROFUSION Fusion for Energy (F4E) is the Domestic Agency charged ONE COIL PER MONTH with implementing the project within Europe with the What remains to be done until the entire vacuum vessel is support of CEA (France), CIEMAT (Spain), ENEA (Italy), completed, is the sliding of the 16 Toroidal Field coils into KIT (Germany) and SCK-CEN (Belgium). Together with place on the assembled segments. The last Vacuum Ves- their Japanese counterpart (QST, previously JAEA), they sel segment will be positioned, and the remaining two TF jointly form the JT-60SA Integrated Project Team. EURO- coils “threaded” into place. French and Italian companies fusion as part of this team strongly supports the “Physics produce the TF coils. They will be delivered to the Naka Unit” and defines the experimental research plan of the site, at a typical rate of one per month, from now until the device. end of 2017.

A PROJECT ON SCHEDULE WHY JT-60SA? Overall the JT-60SA project is on schedule for the first Why do Europe and Japan need to build an additional hu- shot in 2019. “This is not only thanks to good preparation ge tokamak while there is JET? Darren McDonald, EURO- of the initial design and technical specifications, but also fusion’s ITER Physics Deputy Leader has the answer: “To to the efficient cooperation which was established from be economically viable, fusion power plants will need long the onset, both with Japan, as well as within Europe”, says pulse or even steady state operation. ITER must demons- Pietro Barabaschi, F4E’s European Project Leader for JT- trate such operation. To assist ITER, long pulse or steady 60SA. state operation must first be developed on a JET class device. So, we need a machine which, unlike JET, is capable of WAITING TO BE SHIPPED running long high performance plasmas. JT-60SA is that JT-60SA recently achieved a major milestone in the suc- machine. The key components are its superconducting cessful testing of its first Toroidal Field (TF) coil which is magnets and active cooling systems.” n

12 13 FUSION IN EUROPE | Market Place |

Introducing usion research benefits from its wide variety of researchers ALTERNATIVE TRI ALPHA F and approaches. Not all of the ideas and concepts belong to FUSION EUROfusion. For several years it was mostly private companies, even far beyond European borders that were trying to bring fusion CONCEPTS: ENERGY energy to life. Fusion in Europe introduces different approaches The power of ingenuity in series and explains precisely what is concealed behind the catchy claim designed to attract the attention of investors.

1 FACTS 2 IDEA 3 OPINION

Dr Dale A. Prouty (CEO) Tri Alpha Energy (TAE) wants to revolutionise the population within the FRC to sustain the very energetic The Tri Alpha concept looks attractive: the use Dr Michl W. Binderbauer fuel of fusion reactions. The company intends to burn plasma. The fusion energy comes in the form of ener- Management a mixture of hydrogen and boron. This reaction is an- getic photons which can be converted to generate power. of proton boron (p-B) as (Chief Technology Officer) eutronic, producing three alpha particles, which is FRCs have been investigated since the 1960s but were fuel produces no neu- Dr Toshiki Tajima where Tri Alpha Energy gets its name. According to unable to achieve long-lasting and stable plasmas. trons and it is a linear (Chief Science Officer) TAE, there is a virtually unlimited supply of boron, In August 2015, the company demonstrated sustained machine, so scaling up estimated at over 100,000 years supply obtained from plasma performance for up to 11 milliseconds in its to reactor-size is rela- terrestrial sources alone. C-2U national lab-scale machine. Their next step is to tively straightforward. Tri Alpha Energy (TAE) is the Burning the hydrogen-boron fuel requires temperatu- scale up their experiments and install stronger beams Also the recently repor- world‘s largest private fusion res of about 3 billion degrees Celsius. TAE uses a linear to heat the plasma and demonstrate the performance ted breakthrough which Roger Jaspers is Chairman of confines plasma for FuseNet, coordinator of the Funding company backed by technology in- field-reversed configuration (FRC) in combination with at higher temperatures. TAE is currently constructing Fusion Master Programme at an intense neutral beam injection to create a well-con- a new machine, called C-2W, and expects to demons- about 10 ms, is very en- the Eindhoven University of vestors including New Enterprise fined plasma. It relies on the build-up of a fast ion trate this next milestone within the next three years. couraging. But we must Technology in The Nether- Associates, Venrock (venture arm temper our expectations lands and founder of the Fusion Academy. of the Rockefeller family), Wellco- somewhat since the Picture: private achieved temperature me Trust, Art Samberg, Buchanan (~1 keV) and confinement time are still several or- Investments and others. It has rai- ders away from the required values for net energy pro- sed nearly $500 million in capital duction. Moreover, one should realise that changing from deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel to p-B fuel will result to date. in a reduction of fusion power by more than a factor 100 (due to the lower density for the same pressure, Foothill Ranch, California, and the reduced fusion probability). So why not first Headquarters United States of America demonstrate the concept for the D-T reaction? The final challenge is the need to maintain a high energy non-thermal ion population in an energetically 1998 favourable way. With the large investment obtained recently, Tri Alpha now has the means to try to tackle Established C-2U, the test device from Tri Alpha. these issues. I look forward to the results! Picture: Tri Alpha Energy

14 15 FUSION IN EUROPE | Moving Forward | Research Units |

collaboration between the COMPLIANCE WITH STRICT TOLERANCES Atwo EUROfusion Research Each of the 70 Langmuir probes is 25 mm Units, KIT and CEA, just saw long, 17mm tall and only 2 mm thick, si- its efficient outcome. Scien- milar in size to a paperclip. “It was tricky to comply with the strict tolerances of tists in Karlsruhe delivered 70 such diagnostics and, moreover, to deliver in time”, says Steffen Antusch, powder Langmuir probes to the French BRITTLE metallurgy scientist from the IAM. His la- tokamak WEST. Producing those boratory took advantage of their well-established relationship with two industrial tiny diagnostics was difficult, but partners: the Rodinger Kunststoff-Technik not impossible, thanks to KIT’s GmbH produced the tools for the powder ME THIS Steffen Antusch, powder Jamie Gunn, plasma injection and the green tungsten com- metallurgy scientist from KIT’s physicist from CEA. experience in Tungsten Powder Institute for Applied Materials. Picture: private pacts. Plansee, SE, which specialises in Injection Moulding and its expert Picture: Antusch processing high-performance materials, finalised the components for WEST. industrial partners. TINY PIECES FOR A BIG APPROACH As WEST is intended to become one of EU- INJECTING TUNGSTEN POWDER ROfusion’s test benches for tungsten com- Langmuir probes Two years ago, the WEST researchers were ponents under ITER-like conditions, the are as tiny as a paperclip but have scratching their heads to find a technical French Research Unit CEA (Commissariat to deliver precise solution which would enable them to de- à l‘énergie atomique et aux énergies alter- data from a harsh sign tiny Langmuir probes. These diag- natives) is happy to receive the pieces from fusion environment. Picture: Tanja nostics needed to survive high power and Germany: “We are grateful for their in-kind Meißner/KIT steady state particle bombardment, wi- contribution, impressed with their timely thout being a risk for machine operation delivery, and now eagerly await the first in the event of damage. Discussions with plasma in WEST to test the probes”, says EUROfusion colleagues from KIT (Karls- Jamie Gunn, plasma physicist from CEA. ruhe Institute for Technology) convinced the French team that Tungsten Powder Not only will the diagnostics provide es- Injection Moulding (W-PIM) could be the sential data, the use of tungsten Langmuir solution to producing tungsten compo- probes bolted onto an actively cooled di- nents with a complex shape. The Institute vertor target is considered to be a technical for Applied Materials (IAM) in Karlsruhe solution suitable for the ITER divertor pro- specialises in W-PIM, a cost-efficient -me be system. Consequently, feedback from thod which is used to fabricate extremely the Langmuir probes in WEST will provide tiny, but precise, metal parts. input into the ITER design decision. n

Langmuir probes, named after the conditions inside tokamaks. They are Read more about it in the article US-American chemist and physicist therefore made from the refractory “New manufacturing technique Irving Langmuir, determine the tem- metal tungsten. Due to the brittleness for DEMO divertor components” perature, density and electric potential of tungsten, manufacturing by way of Fusion in Europe II/2014 of a fusion plasma. These diagnostics mechanical machining is time-consum must be capable of withstanding harsh ing and the fabrication costs are high. www.euro-fusion.org/?p=32596

16 17 FUSION IN EUROPE | Research Units |

Tokamaks need a large magnetic field in order to control the very hot plasma of fusion experiments. This requires a lot of electrical current and this is supplied by Cross-section of the rectangular conductor designed by the ENEA Super superconducting cables. Their conductivity Lab for the DEMO project. The thick steel jacket encloses super- unique feature is to transport conducting (grey) and copper (brown) wires, cabled together with two small electricity without losing precious spirals (the one hole in the picture) for helium circulation. Picture: ENEA energy to electrical resistance.

ENEA AIMS HIGHER Mission six of the European fusion roadmap deals, amongst “SPC is the only facility worldwide which was able to test others, with advanced cable solutions for DEMO, the first our cable under the required conditions with regard to demonstration fusion power plant, while mission 7 is ai- magnetic field, temperature and current”, says Luigi Muz- ming towards economically attractive solutions. Scientists zi, Coordinator of Research&Development and Qualifi- The superconducting cable from EUROfusion’s Italian Research Unit ENEA (Italian cation activities for DEMO magnets, from ENEA’s Super- from ENEA will be inserted into DEMO’s magnets. National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sus- conductivity Laboratory in Frascati. Picture: EUROfusion / Luigi Muzzi tainable Economic Development) have now successfully created a cable which has achieved a record performance of MAKING FUSION CHEAPER 81.7 Kiloamperes; 10,000 times more than what ordinary The improvements in conductor design have been well computer cable is capable of. This current is also 20 percent received by EUROfusion’s Power Plant Physics and Tech- greater than what is needed for ITER’s magnetic field. nology (PPPT) Department which puts the design and development of DEMO in the right context. “Large super- WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THE SWISS LAB conducting magnets for fusion reactors are critical and The work at the Italian lab started in 2013 and the final very expensive components; making them cheaper and A SUPERCONDUCTING tests were carried out in April this year at the Swiss Plasma more compact whilst retaining high performance is an Center (SPC). The Swiss Research Unit has also developed important step towards increasing the attractiveness of an innovative conductor concept demonstrating the same fusion power”, says Gianfranco Federici, Head of the PPPT CABLE BREAKS RECORDS improved performances as ENEA. Department. n

NEA’s Superconductivity Lab just achieved a world ENEA’sENEA’s rectangular ITER requirements DEMO requirements technical Cable-in-ConduitCable-in-Conduit for superconducting for superconducting features Erecord in their research into superconducting cables. ConductorConductor cables cables The Italians designed and built a rectangular Cable-in- current 81.781.7 kAkA 68 kA 82 kA Conduit Conductor which has demonstrated a performance magnetic field 13T13T 12T 13T exceeding the requirements of the world’s biggest experi- current sharing 7K (-266 °C) 5.8 K (-267 °C) 7 K (-266 °C) ment to come: ITER. temperatures 7K (-266 °C)

18 19 FUSION IN EUROPE | Community | People |

Paul is currently touring Europe with Tarik Barri who is responsible for providing images to Paul’s music. The picture was taken during usician Paul Jebanasam chose the L.E.V. festival in Gijón, a picture of JET’s inside for the Spain at the end of April. M Picture: Piru de la Puente cover of his music album ‘Continuum’ long before the music, a mixture of organ sounds and digital noise, was Listen to ‘Continuum’ born. Paul says that the Joint European on Soundcloud: Music Torus inspired him to create modern www.soundcloud.com/subtext-recordings/ electronic music which links the latest sets/continuum-paul-jebanasam science with the ancient secrets of life.

Why did you choose JET for the album cover? process. As though it is the latest step in a single unfolding While researching ideas I became really interested in structure that goes back to the emergence of life and how HOW JET INSPIRES church organs. When they were built, they were one of it has evolved to store and use energy. the most complex machines mankind had made. At the same time, I was reading Michio Kaku‘s Physics of the Do you see a relationship between sacred music and Future which features an image of the JET vessel. It had technology? THE SOUND OF an immediate impact on me. Both the JET vessel and the It‘s well documented that Bach was fascinated by Johan- church organ seemed to speak to mankind‘s search for nes Kepler‘s scientific discoveries. They played a part in the something beyond. inspirations for his compositions. There were new ideas THE UNIVERSE emerging about the nature of the world. He used sound Doesn’t this picture just show a clean industrial envi to understand and work through these. This sound was ronment? created with the latest musical technologies. The approach It‘s not so the cleanness of the image but it looks almost seems classical, even though, instead of harmony and coun- Paul Jebanasam chose JET as the cover for his abstract and so precise. It’s hard to believe it is man-made. It terpoint, I am working primarily with processes involving album ‘Continuum’. is as though every single surface is the product of some com- noise, distortion, convolution and spectral synthesis. Picture: Camille Blake plex algorithmic process that is working with energies and concepts so vast that they are almost unimaginable. In this Did you get feedback on the album cover? sense, it fits perfectly with the ideas that inspired the music. Yes, it definitely added a necessary element to the overall work. It has led to people hearing the music in a way they Which ideas? otherwise wouldn‘t have. While it’s always good to question One of the main themes of ‘Continuum’ is life and, in the belief that technology holds the solution to all of the particular, its relationship with entropy and energy. I was world’s problems, the optimist in me dreams about seeing reading about the scientific definitions of life and thin- the fusion project reach its goal and the greater effects this king about it as the behaviour of certain formations of might have. As there are many reasons to be concerned matter resisting entropy. In this way, projects like JET feel about humanity‘s future, I wanted the music and its associ- as though they are connected to earlier iterations of this ation with JET to shine a light on a reason to be hopeful. n

20 21 FUSION IN EUROPE | People | TAKING THE LATEST OF FUSION RESEARCH BACK HOME The current PhD candidates in fusion related fields, Ana Kostić (Serbia), Vladica Nikolić (Serbia), Branka Vanovac

(Bosnia & Herzegovina), Maša Šćepanović (Montenegro) Maša Šćepanović Branka Vanovac and Miloš Vlainić (Serbia) created the Fusion Education currently affiliated at the Charles III currently based at the FOM Institute DIFFER University of Madrid and also a guest at the IPP Garching usion-related research in Network (FEN or FOM, in Serbian). The non-profit orga- F Serbia, Montenegro and nisation promotes nuclear fusion to their fellow citizens in the Western Balkan countries. “By now, there is no one Bosnia and Herzegovina has faded left of the old fusion crew available to teach the younger over the last two decades. generation. So, we intend to fill that gap with our initia tive”, says Ana Kostić. Five students from those countries STUDENTS TEACHING STUDENTS are not going to put up with this In October of last year FEN organised a workshop for anymore. While pursuing their undergraduates from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia- Herzegovina at the University of Belgrade. Fellow fusion European Master of Nuclear students from the European Master programme held lec- Science and Engineering Physics, tures during the first three days. The last two days were dedicated to the practical part. What else could be more they decided to bring something thrilling than operating a tokamak? The Czech Techni- back home with them. cal University allowed the young investigators to use its tokamak ‘Golem’. As a follow up, the participants wrote

a report on the outcome, with the prospects of operating Ana Kostić Miloš Vlainić an even bigger tokamak. Now, the best four are able to currently based at the Ghent University currently pursues his PhD at three European locations: and also a guest at IPP Garching the Ghent University, IPP Prague and the Czech Technical University complete an internship at the Czech device COMPASS.

ANOTHER WORKSHOP IN AUTUMN The Fusion Education Network “The first workshop demonstrated impressively that inte- wants to share the latest in fusion re- rest in fusion does not stop at the borders of the European search with undergraduates or even Union. So, we decided to organise a sequel”, says Ana. high school students from Serbia, Hence, the second workshop will be held in September Montenegro or Bosnia-Herzegovina. this year at the Faculty of Sciences in Serbian Novi Sad. Their next workshop will be held between SEEKING FURTHER FUSION TRAINING 26th September and 30th September at The FEN team is not limiting the promotion of fusion the Serbian University only to workshops. This young organisation has started an educational blog on their website. To avoid language of Novi Sad. For further barriers, the blog is written in Serbian which citizens from information, check out Serbia, Montenegro as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina are the homepage: all able to understand. Furthermore, the group is still men- www.fom-fen.net toring more than 20 participants from the first workshop. “We empower them to read, learn and seek further trai- Vladica Nikolić ning in fusion sciences”, reports Ana. n currently doing her research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences: Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science 22 23 FUSION IN EUROPE | People | | Community | News |

YOUNG FACES OF FUSION THE EUROPEAN INNOVATION COUNCIL: MAY 2016 MERIAME EIROFORUM ANSWERED MOEDAS’ CALL NUCLEAR FUSION “Disruptive market-creating innovation” – EU Commissioner Carlos Moedas is looking for no less than this. For this reason, he set up the European Inno- BERBOUCHA Catchthe vation Council (EIC) and launched a Call for Ideas at the Science Business physics bug! Annual Conference in February this year. The strength of the response may well have been a surprise to the Commissioner: 1,017 replies from the business sector, public bodies as well as the research and finance sectors. Amongst She is only 21 years old, but she is al- “I love physics and I want others to enjoy others, EIROforum addressed the European Commissioner for Research, it as much as I do”, says Meriame ready a jack of all trades of physics Berboucha, who runs the ‘All things Science and Innovation with a position paper. As one of the eight EIROforum and communication. 4th year science blog’. Picture: private members, EUROfusion also supports the idea of promoting strategies for new Nature Physics Insight Nuclear Fusion, undergraduate physics student jobs, especially when scaling start-ups into a world-beating business. May 2016 Volume 12, No 5 Meriame Berboucha from Lon- NATURE PHYSICS INSIGHT don calls herself an ‘Influencer’ Where do you see your future as she continuously shares in physics? Read the entire EIROforum The journal Nature Physics information about ‘the cool I am about to start my masters position paper here: features an ‘Insight’ on nuclear physics I am doing’. More than project in which I intend to stu- fusion. It contains an interview 600 people follow her on Twit- dy shock waves in plasmas on a with ITER’s Director-General, ter, about 200 see Instagram small experimental scale. These Bernard Bigot, who reflects on snapshots showing her daily lab experiments can be used to model www.eiroforum.org/downloads/20160517_ the status of the biggest toka- routine. She runs a Facebook pa- the shocks that occur in space, for position-paper-european-innovation-council.pdf mak ever and its challenges. ge for her outreach endeavours and, instance, those formed by a supernova In addition, Mark Buchanan, moreover, owns the ‘All Things Scien- remnant. This will be carried out on the points out that success of both ce’ blog. She is the author of various scien- MAGPIE (Mega Ampere Generator for Plas- magnetic-confinement fusion ce articles even some featuring fusion. Award-winning ma Implosion Experiments), the largest university-based The fusion consortium and its fellow EIROforum members expressed their and laser fusion lies in dealing Meriame is on a mission: To become a role model for pulsed-power generator. It is capable of delivering a 1.4 view in a two-page statement. It says that the European Research, Develop- with plasma instabilities. In one girls in physics. million Amp current pulse in 250 nanoseconds! That’s a ment and Innovation sector can only be successful if research-driven and of three Commentaries, Steven Tera-Watt of power, the same power generated by a trillion market-oriented innovation is strengthened in line with the principles Cowley provides the arguments energy saving light bulbs! Following that, I’d love to carry of Open Science and Open Innovation. Therefore, the EIC should em- in favour of nuclear fusion as an Why do you want to increase enthusiasm for studying out a PhD at Imperial College London with the Plasma power innovation communities to manage their own pilot programmes. energy source and its unsolved physics? Physics group. There, I hope to study laser-plasma interac- EIROforum even proposed that EIC pilots could provide feasibility stu- problems. Four Reviews get into I’ve caught the physics bug and I’d love to spread it to tions which is very useful for inertial confinement fusion. dies or a proof-of-concept grant. It stressed that even failure should be fusion details. Among others, others so that they can enjoy it as much as I do. Physics taken into account: “For the success of the EIC and the competitiveness Jozef Ongena and colleagues makes me think about the world in a new light and see the Did you already have any exchange with the EUROfusion of Europe, it will be essential to fund high-risk/high-reward projects […], review magnetic fusion, studied beauty of it. It allows me to answer the very big questions Research Units? where failure […] is accepted.” n in tokamaks and stellarators like, ‘What are we made of?’, ‘Where do we come from?’ I have only ever heard of JET and ITER at my university, worldwide. Ambrogio Fasoli ‘How was the Earth made?’ I could go on and on... and through lectures and seminars but have never visited. and colleagues show that our that’s why I love physics! I would love to visit one day and see these impressive ma- understanding of magnetically chines and learn more about the research work being car- confined plasmas has benefited What drives you to be a role model, especially for girls? ried out there! n from better computer simu- Whilst I was studying physics at A level I was the only girl lations. Nature Physics Insight in my class. Lots of my friends thought I was weird for Nuclear Fusion is highly re- taking physics and would ask ‘What’s it useful for? Why Keeping up with Meriame: commended to both colleagues are you taking it?’ Anyway, I still loved physics. I finally be www.meriameberboucha.weebly.com interested in learning more came the first female in my school to go on to study physics @MBerboucha about nuclear fusion and sea- n in higher education. I set up a science club to get younger meriameberboucha soned plasma scientists. students interested. So all in all, those negative comments https://m.facebook.com/PopomaticImperial/ urged me to change the stereotype, to show others that not Representatives of the eight EIROforum members gathered together for a visit of the www.nature.com/ only is physics awesome, but girls can do it too!? European XFEL construction site in November last year. Picture: European XFEL nphys/insight/nuclearfusion

24 25 FUSION IN EUROPE | Perspectives | summing up WILL THEY STAY EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUSION ENERGY „It would be a real draw OR WILL THEY GO NOW? back because it would be difficult to replace the ex ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot was questionned in REALISING FUSION ELECTRICITY BY 2050 pertise.“ a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. The energy (During a hearing subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, in the U.S. House of Representa- th and Technology asked tough questions which he obviously tives on 20 April, 2016 ITER’s answered satisfactorily. By the end of May, Ernest Moniz from Director-General Bernard Bigot answered the question whether the U.S Department of Energy, which, by the way, was one of Institute of Plasma Physics a U.S. withdrawal would be Ecole Royale Militaire Academy of Sciences of the the three partners participating in the first Wendelstein 7-X Austrian Academy of Sciences Laboratory for Plasma Physics Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Croatian Research Unit University of Cyprus Czech Republic campaign, proposed to remain part of the ITER project until fatal to the ITER project.) AUSTRIA BELGIUM BULGARIA CROATIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC at least 2018. Watch the full hearing: www.tinyurl. com/j48zlgd Science Article: Commissariat à l’énergie www.tinyurl.com/z3hpzko Technical University of Technical Research Centre atomique et aux énergies Denmark University of Tartu of Finland alternatives DENMARK ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GERMANY

“ITER is an invaluable science experiment but we need programs to simultaneously develop technologies. I think we need to start taking more risks instead of waiting forparallel the perfect solution 50 years from now.” Agenzia nazionale per le nuove (Dennis Whyte, Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Max-Planck-Institut für National Center for Scientific Wigner Research Centre for tecnologie, l’energia e lo Plasmaphysik Research "Demokritos" Physics Dublin City University sviluppo economico sostenibile Center in the an article for motherboard.vice.com) GERMANY GREECE HUNGARY IRELAND ITALY LAT VIA www.tinyurl.com/hv42nxg

“If I am tense and anxious it won’t

improve anything. If Institute of Plasma Physics something goes wrong Lithuanian Energy Institute and Laser Microfusion Instituto Superior Técnico Institute for Atomic Physics Comenius University Jožef Stefan Institute LITHUANIA POLAND PORTUGAL ROMANIA SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA and is outside your scope, there is nothing you - can do to avoid it. Keep con “At this time, our continued participation [...] is centrating on what lies in in the best interest of the nation. [The US should] your hands”, explains Bernard Bigot remain a partner in the ITER project through Fiscal Year 2018,” writes Energy Secretary Centro de Investigaciones calmly after EUROfusion managed to catch Energéticas Medioambientales him at the busy Heathrow airport. He was Ernest Moniz from the Department of y Tecnológicas Swedish Research Coubcil UNITED SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND THE NETHERLANDS KINGDOM asked about the right attitude necessary to Energy (DOE) in the introductory message tackle the problems which come with the job as of the report to the US . th ITER Director-General Congress released on 26 May. Our partners: Watch the entire interview here: Download the report here:

www.youtube.com/ www.tinyurl.com/j95c8fv watch?v=g9R-GXRftDo+EUROFUSION

FRANCE SPAIN

26 This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014 – 2018 under grant agreement No 633053.

ISSN 1818-5355