A momentous achievement in the field of nuclear fusion has been accomplished by a collaborative team of engineers from Europe and Japan. They have successfully generated tokamak plasma for the first time within JT-60SA, the most substantial experimental fusion device to date utilizing magnetic confinement.

JT-60SA, often referred to as ITER's satellite tokamak project, emerged as a result of the Broader Approach (BA) Agreement between Europe and Japan. The facility is hosted at QST, Japan's National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, located in Naka.

The primary mission of JT-60SA is to facilitate research supporting ITER in achieving its technological objectives, providing essential insights for the transition from ITER to DEMO reactors, and offering experts an opportunity to develop new skills.

In the coming weeks, intensive further investigation and testing will continue to evaluate this groundbreaking achievement. The culmination of these efforts will be celebrated on 1 December during the official inauguration of the newly constructed fusion research facility in Naka, where delegates from Japan and Europe will be present.

View of JT-60SA device. © JT-60SA

Source: Fusion For Energy

Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier are the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. It was awarded "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter".

The three Nobel Laureates are being recognised for their experiments, which have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules. Each of the scientists has demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.

The Nobel Prize is worth 11 million Swedish kronor. It will be shared equally between the laureates.

• Pierre Agostini, born 1941 in Tunis. PhD 1968 from Aix-Marseille University, France. Professor at The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
• Ferenc Krausz, born 1962 in Mór, Hungary. PhD 1991 from Vienna University of Technology, Austria. Director at Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching and Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
• Anne L’Huillier, born 1958 in Paris, France. PhD 1986 from University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France. Professor at Lund University, Sweden.

For more information please visit:
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2023
www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2023/10/popular-physicsprize2023.pdf

Source: www.nobelprize.org

The US National Ignition Facility (NIF) has achieved fusion ignition once again, building on its landmark 2022 success. This achievement, powered by hydrogen within a diamond capsule, signifies a major advancement in fusion research.

Located near San Francisco at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the NIF employs powerful lasers to manipulate hydrogen atoms, yielding surplus energy. Despite not yet generating self-sustaining power, this milestone offers invaluable insights for refining the technology.

Fusion researchers have long pursued energy surplus, crucial for plasma fusion. The NIF's tiny chamber, stimulated by 192 lasers, emulates the Sun's core conditions, fostering nuclear particle rearrangement and helium production. This marks ignition when the released energy maintains fusion.

In a recent Financial Times article, the NIF confirmed a repeat ignition experiment on July 30th. Detailed results will be shared in peer-reviewed publications and conferences.

Initial findings report 3.5 megajoules of energy, surpassing December's 3.15 megajoules. However, practical implementation requires significantly more powerful lasers pulsing rapidly.

For further details, please visit: www.sciencealert.com

Source: Sciencealert.com

Professor Ambrogio Fasoli became the new EUROfusion Programme Manager Elect. The decision was made by EUROfusion General Assembly at the meeting on 18 July 2023. His tenure will officially commence on the 1st of January, 2024.

His role will include leading the EUROfusion Programme Management Unit and overseeing the programme’s implementation.

Professor Ambrogio Fasoli is the Director of the Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL, the current Chair of the General Assembly of the European Consortium for Fusion Energy, EUROfusion, and the Associate Vice President for Research at EPFL.

Among his professional accomplishments one should mention obtaining PhD at EPFL, professorship at MIT, being the Editor-in-Chief of the Nuclear Fusion journal, of the International Atomic Energy Agency as well as fellowship of the American Physical Society.

The EUROfusion General Assembly is confident that Ambrogio will meet the challenges facing the European fusion energy research community.

For more information about the new Programme Manager Elect please visit: https://euro-fusion.org

Source: EUROfusion

Today, as we commemorate the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the EUROfusion consortium stands in solidarity with our Ukrainian member and research colleagues.

EUROfusion remains committed to supporting Ukraine's researchers and to helping to rebuild their facilities. The ongoing war on Ukraine underscores the importance of pursuing sustainable energy and energy independence, promoting human development, and advancing peace. It is imperative that we remain steadfast in our joint efforts to create a better future.

With the permission of our member KIPT (the National Science Center Kharkov Institute for Physics and Technology), we share some images of the tremendous devastation and loss caused by Russian missile and artillery strikes on the KIPT facilities in Kharkiv. Our thoughts are with our colleagues at KIPT and at the other fusion partners linked to KIPT as associated entities, as we express our solidarity and support for our colleagues and the people around them.

Impact

Home to many knowledge institutes, Kharkiv lies in the northeast of the country and is Ukraine's second-largest city. It lies about 25 kilometers from the border with Russia and was hit heavily in the early phase of the invasion, with over 100 strikes hitting the campus and surrounding residential area between February and May of 2022. Science magazine covered Kharkiv's response to the attacks in this article in December 2022.

In addition to damage to buildings and research facilities, the attacks also caused the loss of KIPT PhD student Mykola Zamanov as his house in the suburbs was hit by a Russian missile.

Images courtesy of Prof Igor Garkusha, KIPT. Used with permission.

During the invasion, many KIPT colleagues have continued to work from home and have conducted repairs on the institute's damaged buildings and facilities. They for instance placed the institute's Neutron Source in long-stop mode and found ways to keep KIPT's fusion experiments such as its stellarator and linear plasma accelerators operational.

Other KIPT colleagues had to evacuate to locations in western Ukraine and beyond. Thirty countries worldwide sheltered KIPT staff, predominantly in Europe such as at our Polish member IPPLM, CIEMAT in Spain, Uppsala University in Sweden, IPP Garching in Germany and other laboratories.

Images courtesy of Prof Igor Garkusha, KIPT. Used with permission.

Support

EUROfusion has made funding available to support such temporary positions at Ukrainian labs as well as for Ukrainian scientists hosted at EUROfusion members. In addition we decided to provide funding to support the fusion research at KIPT and its associated entities in Ukraine. As part of a European Commission response, EUROfusion has also stopped ongoing collaboration projects with Russian research institutes.

"It is hugely important for us to hear EUROfusion words of solidarity and feel the actions of support in this time", says KIPT fusion researcher Sergii Pugach.

Head of the fusion research at KIPT Professor Igor Garkusha agrees: "It is very important for us to feel the 'shoulder of friend'. It helps us overcome the hardships of the war and give hope for the rapid restoration of our research infrastructure after the war."

Images courtesy of Prof Igor Garkusha, KIPT. Used with permission.

Source: EUROfusion