Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger are the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. It was awarded “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”.

Each of the scientists has conducted groundbreaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated. The obtained results have cleared the way for new technology based upon quantum information.

© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Nobel Prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor. It will be shared equally between the laureates.

• Alain Aspect, born 1947 in Agen, France. PhD 1983 from Paris-Sud University, Orsay, France. Professor at Université Paris-Saclay and École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France.
• John F. Clauser, born 1942 in Pasadena, CA, USA. PhD 1969 from Columbia University, New York, USA. Research Physicist, J.F. Clauser & Assoc., Walnut Creek, CA, USA.
• Anton Zeilinger, born 1945 in Ried im Innkreis, Austria. PhD 1971 from University of Vienna, Austria. Professor at University of Vienna, Austria.

For more information please visit:
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2022
www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2022/10/popular-physicsprize2022.pdf

Source: www.nobelprize.org

A new wave of fusion energy experiments on UK Atomic Energy Authority’s record-breaking Joint European Torus (JET) started this month.

EUROfusion researchers are using the famous JET machine to conduct a series of tests using helium to help inform future operations at ITER, the fusion mega-project under construction in Southern France.

ITER is expected to start operations using helium and hydrogen test plasmas before commencing experiments with deuterium and tritium, the more efficient fuel used by JET to break the world record for sustained fusion energy at the end of 2021.

EUROfusion researchers will study the behaviour of the plasmas as well as test the impact of helium on JET’s tungsten and beryllium wall to help ITER efficiently build up to full power operations. The new experiments at Culham Science Centre, Oxford, started this month and will run for up to 16 weeks.

Dr Tim Luce, ITER’s Head of Science and Operation, said:
“An essential element of the ITER Research Plan is to explore control of the plasma interaction with the wall at high fusion temperatures. This needs to be addressed in the initial research phases before deuterium and tritium are used to produce fusion power in ITER.

“We have great expectations for how these experiments can help us optimise our plan to move as efficiently as possible into deuterium-tritium operation.”

JET is unique in its capabilities not only for deuterium-tritium operation, but also for operating in the required high confinement mode with pure helium and with the ITER wall materials.

Fernanda Rimini, JET Senior Manager, said:
“The ground-breaking research and innovation being done in the UK, in the framework of the EUROfusion consortium and with our partners across the globe, is all geared towards making fusion energy a reality.

“JET is one of the most important machines in the history of fusion. After breaking the record for sustained energy last year, these important new experiments will prove more science and provide crucial data for the ITER team as they prepare for operations, ultimately saving time and money on our roadmap to delivering fusion power to the grid.”

Record JET results announced in February were the clearest demonstration worldwide of the potential for fusion energy, which is based on the same processes that power the sun and stars, to deliver safe and sustainable low carbon energy in the future.

The record fifty-nine megajoules of sustained fusion energy was produced at JET by researchers from the EUROfusion consortium of experts, students and staff from across Europe, co-funded by the European Commission.

Photo: JET Control Room. Credit: UKAEA

Source: UKAEA, EUROfusion

Pietro Barabaschi has become the next Director-General of the ITER Organization as a result of the unanimous choice of the Council from among finalist candidates. In the transition period Dr. Eisuke Tada served as Interim Director-General. The new ITER Organization Director-General is expected to take office in October.

The career of Mr Barabaschi has been related to fusion research and started at JET. Among positions he has held so far were, among others, Deputy to the Project Leader and Head of the Design Integration Division in Garching/Munich (Germany), Head of Broader Approach Programme and Delivery for Fusion for Energy (F4E), Acting Director of Fusion for Energy in Barcelona, Spain.

Director-General Barabaschi made it clear that he was conscious of the responsibility taken on and felt privileged for having been selected through an intensive competitive selection process.

"The first 15 years of my career have been dedicated to ITER and I now hope to be able to take on what my predecessors have done towards our common objective. I will make it a priority to improve the integration of ITER Organization and Domestic Agencies, both essential elements of the ITER Project, now and even more in the forthcoming phases of commissioning of ITER.", stated Mr Barabaschi.

For more information please visit: www.iter.org/newsline/-/3790

Source: www.iter.org

At a livestreamed Horizon EUROfusion event in Brussels on 5 July 2022, EUROfusion celebrated the start of conceptual design activities for Europe's first demonstration fusion power plant DEMO. This first-of-a-kind fusion device will demonstrate the net production of 300 to 500 megawatts of clean and safe fusion energy to the grid by the middle of the century. A special issue of the scientific journal Fusion Engineering & Design presents the state of the art in designing Europe's demonstration fusion power plant DEMO.

The Horizon EUROfusion was the official launch event of the EUROfusion programme as part of Horizon Europe, the 2021-2025 European research and innovation funding programme.

The event was the first in a planned annual series where the EUROfusion consortium celebrates European progress in fusion research, such as its recent fusion energy record and progress towards a heat exhaust for future fusion power plants.

DEMO - demonstration power plant. Credit: EUROfusion Consortium and F4E

Developing fusion energy

Fusion is the process that powers stars like our sun and promises an inherently safe and near-limitless clean energy source for the long term here on earth. Fusion energy would generate immense amounts of energy from mere grams of abundant fuels found worldwide.

The EUROfusion research consortium brings together experts from across Europe in the world's leading and most comprehensive fusion R&D programme. EUROfusion is co-funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme. From JET to ITER to DEMO, the European fusion roadmap lays out the consortium's path towards industrial-scale fusion power plant technology by the middle of the century.

EUROfusion activities directly support the global fusion experiment ITER and work with European industry to develop the first-of-a-kind demonstration fusion power plant DEMO. Earlier this year, EUROfusion researchers showed the potential of fusion by setting a world record of 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy at the Joint European Torus device (JET) in Culham, UK.

Watch the Horizon EUROfusion event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-fC2Wm0FiI

Fusion power plant. Credit: UKAEA

More information: www.euro-fusion.org

https://ec.europa.eu

www.euro-fusion.org/news

Source: www.euro-fusion.org

This month, we have witnessed the successful lifting and lowering into the machine well of the first sub-section of the ITER plasma chamber. The weight of the component is the impressive 1,380 tonnes leaving the crane operators a clearance of merely 20 cm over the concrete wall. To translate these dimensions into plain language, it is enough to imagine the hight of a six storey building and the weight of four fully loaded Boeing 747s.

The sub-section composes one-ninth of the toroidal plasma chamber. It was extremely important to prepare to this operation and the ITER team has been very active in this process in the ITER Assembly Hall, April – December 2021.The rigging elements were tested singly and in tandem to permit the assembly teams to make sure that the sequence and coordination is right.

Among the successful milestone actors one should mention the Korean Domestic Agency, Japanese Domestic Agency, European Domestic Agency as well as partners from India and Russia. At the same time, on the ground it was the ITER Organization construction team and the contractor MOMENTUM who took care of the success of the operation.

The lifting operation with suspending the component only 50 centimetres above the supports will be enthusiastically celebrated as it makes the First Plasma appear on the horizon clearer and clearer.

For more information on the ITER Project, visit: www.iter.org

For more information on machine assembly (including photos), visit: www.iter.org/construction/TokamakAssembly

Photo: On 11 May 2022, the ITER Organization team achieves a major assembly milestone: lifting the first sub-section of the ITER plasma chamber out of tooling and lowering it into the machine well. Credit © ITER Organization, http://www.iter.org