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On 9 February 2022, the breakthrough in the efforts of researchers and engineers in the field of nuclear fusion was announced.

The research on fusion energy is carried out in Europe under the European Atomic Energy Community EUARTOM research and training programme by the EUROfusion consortium (www.euro-fusion.org) consisting of 30 research organizations from 25 European Union countries as well as Great Britain, Switzerland and Ukraine. Poland in the consortium is represented by the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (IPPLM, www.ifpilm.pl), which has been authorized by the Minister of Education and Science to represent the Polish research community in this project and to coordinate all fusion research in Poland. For this purpose, the Scientific and Industrial Centre of New Energy Technologies (CeNTE, https://cente.ifpilm.pl) was established, gathering the research potential of many national institutions.

The largest operating system in the world able to carry out a controlled fusion reaction, working with a mixture of deuterium and tritium (D-T) fuel, is the JET (Joint European Torus) tokamak located in Culham, UK. During the last experimental campaign (DTE2), this device set a new record for fusion energy. In December 2021, 59 megajoules of energy were obtained in a steady state lasting 5 seconds, which as a result is almost three times higher than the previous record from 1997. In the very centre of the plasma, the temperature of 150 million degrees Celsius was obtained, which is ten times higher than the temperature in the heart of the Sun. Generating this energy required 0.17 milligrams of fusion fuel: about 0.1 mg of tritium and 0.07 mg of deuterium. By comparison, fossil fuels would require 10 million times as much fuel to produce the same amount of energy (1.06 kg of natural gas or 3.9 kg of lignite). The results obtained in JET are very promising in the perspective of further research on nuclear fusion in the new generation ITER tokamak, and then in the prototype fusion power plant DEMO.

Comparison of 1997 (DTE1) and 2021 (DTE2) fusion energy performance on the JET tokamak. Credit: EUROfusion consortium

The achievement in question is the culmination of many years of research carried out by experts from Europe, including Poland, with the IPPLM, INP PAS, Opole University or NCNR. The researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion have been actively involved in this work since 2005. They focused on the preparation and optimization of operational scenarios and scenarios of the so-called plasma heating for the DT campaign and for ITER, an experimental reactor to be built in the south of France. IPPLM researchers specialize in the analysis and interpretation of experimental data recorded using various diagnostics. They studied the behaviour of plasma contaminants to control them and minimize their accumulation. They participated in the design and preparation of modern detectors for soft X-ray diagnostics in JET. In addition, IPPLM research staff participated in the measurement of fusion products, i.e. neutrons and fast helium ions, also known as alpha particles. In preparation for the DT campaign, they participated in the calibration of the neutron diagnostic system in JET for the energy of 14 MeV. Moreover, they performed numerous tomographic reconstructions of plasma radiation based on bolometric data. They also dealt with the development and application of numerical programs modelling physical processes in order to extrapolate the obtained results and predictions for the DT plasma and the ITER tokamak. Thanks to their extensive experience in plasma management, the IPPLM researchers also acted as the leader of the experimental session at JET.

The experience gained during the DTE2 experimental campaign is undoubtedly an important step on the way to obtain new energy sources. The record set is a breakthrough as it shows for the first time that it is possible to maintain a stable plasma and produce large amounts of fusion power using the same fuel mix that will be used in the international ITER experiment and in future fusion power plants.

Record discharge No. 99 971 during the DTE2 experimental campaign. Credit: EUROfusion consortium

View of the hall with the JET tokamak. Credit: UKAEA

Inside of a JET tokamak with remotely controlled devices. Credit: UKAEA

Control room. Credit: UKAEA

Credit: UKAEA

Source: IFPiLM, UKAEA, EUROfusion consortium

The Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion invites you to participate in the 16th Summer School of Plasma Physics which will be held on 6 - 10 June 2022 in Kudowa-Zdrój.

Kudowa Summer School "Towards Fusion Energy" is addressed to young researchers, MSc and PhD students, both from Poland and abroad. Participants will have the opportunity to present their own research results. Lectures will be run by the acknowledged specialists from leading research centers.

The topics of the classes will deal with various aspects of plasma physics, including fusion energy, experiments with the application of plasma, its technology and diagnostics. Issues related to the operation of satellite thrusters will also be covered.

Deadline for application and submitting abstracts: 21 February 2022.

Registration can be made through: https://kudowaschool.ipplm.pl/registration

More information can be found at: https://kudowaschool.ipplm.pl/

During a week-long visit to the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, researchers from the IPPLM performed intensive work related to the preparation of PHA diagnostics developed in the Institute for the next experimental campaign on the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator (www.ipp.mpg.de/w7x).

One of the PHA detectors was equipped with an additional collimator in order to reduce the photon flux reaching its surface. Moreover, work was carried out to eliminate false peaks in the PHA spectrum, which were related to part of the diagnostics electronics. The improved system will then be used to measure X-ray spectra from the W7-X plasma in a cooled carbon divertor configuration. The next experimental campaign is scheduled for the second half of 2022.

The Wendelstein 7-X Stellarator is located at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald, Germany. The experimental fusion reactor was first put into operation in 2015. It is currently the largest device of this type worldwide. This project aims to investigate the concept of magnetic plasma retention as an alternative to the tokamak. The international team of researchers from many research institutes all over the world, including the IPPLM, is involved.

Photo: © IFPiLM

The guests of the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion on 14 July 2021 were Mirosław Zientarzewski, director of the National Museum of Technology in Warsaw, and Paweł Gogolewski, specialist in substantive matters of the Museum.

The visit began with a meeting with the IPPLM management. The guests watched a film describing the activities of the Institute. Representatives of both institutions discussed, among others, the possibility of cooperation in organizing events popularizing science, including disseminating information on nuclear fusion, as well as the transfer to the Museum of historical devices used by researchers in the Institute.

The presentation of research infrastructure and equipment in the IPPLM was another point of the visit. Participants of the meeting saw, among others, the PF-1000U system, one of the world's largest plasma focus devices, and also visited the Laboratory of Plasma Nudge for Satellites, the Laboratory of High Power Lasers, the GEM Detectors Laboratory and the Laboratory of Laser-Induced Plasma Spectroscopy.

Photo: © IPPLM