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The program for this summer's 15th ºÚÁÏÉçapp International School is now available and pre-registration is open on the .

Since its launch in 2007, every ºÚÁÏÉçapp International School has focused on a specific theme. The 15th School, to be held in Chengdu, China, from 20¨C24 July 2026, will explore the engineering of heating and current drive systems as well as the physics processes undergirding their use for plasma heating, current drive, and the control of plasma scenarios in ºÚÁÏÉçapp and other magnetic fusion devices.

The organizers of the event¡ªthe Engineering & Technical College of Chengdu University of Technology and the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP)¡ªhave now opened the webpage for pre-registration. The for the five-day event is also consultable on the website. 

Visit the 15th ºÚÁÏÉçapp International School for all information or to pre-register.

Download the 2026 School poster here.

The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics is reporting that physicists have, for the first time, explained the sudden formation of high-confinement mode (H-mode) in tokamaks using simulations based purely on fundamental physical principles. First observed in 1982 on the ASDEX tokamak in Garching, H-mode dramatically improves plasma energy confinement and is considered essential for future fusion devices, including ºÚÁÏÉçapp. Yet despite decades of experimental and theoretical work, scientists had not fully understood why the transition occurs at a specific heating power.

Led by Wladimir Zholobenko, IPP researchers performed advanced ¡°flux-driven¡± edge simulations with the GRILLIX code, allowing the plasma to evolve naturally as heating power increased step by step. Unlike earlier models, the transition was not imposed but emerged self-consistently from turbulence dynamics. Simulating just 50 milliseconds of plasma evolution required a year of supercomputer time.

The simulations show that after a gradual buildup of turbulence, heat transport at the plasma edge abruptly reverses. Within 100 microseconds, the characteristic H-mode pedestal¡ªa steep pressure and temperature gradient¡ªforms. The transition is linked to a sudden shift from drift-wave turbulence to kinetic ballooning modes, along with a rapid reorganization of microscopic fluctuations. The model even predicts a brief inward heat flow before transport stabilizes.

Based on conditions from ASDEX Upgrade, the simulation shows that it reproduces exactly those effects that can also be observed in experimental results. However, the researchers have not yet been able to achieve satisfactory quantitative agreement¡ªin other words, the actual measurements from ASDEX Upgrade are either above or below the simulated results.¡°We haven't reached our goal yet, but the simulations provide insight into what is still missing,¡± says Dr Zholobenko. The aim is to end up with a simulation model that can predict the experimental parameters at which H-mode occurs in fusion facilities that have not yet been built.

The findings were published in . 

See the .

Since 2019, ºÚÁÏÉçapp Japan has been publishing a manga series that brings the ºÚÁÏÉçapp project to life for a broad audience. 

The story follows Japanese student Taiy? Tenna, who discovers ºÚÁÏÉçapp while on a world tour after meeting a French student in Aix-en-Provence. His journey continues through an internship experience at ºÚÁÏÉçapp, and then as he returns to Japan to learn more about the advanced fusion technologies developed by Japan¡¯s Domestic Agency for the project. In the eighth volume, just released, he has become a staff member at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), where he learns about ºÚÁÏÉçapp's new baseline scope and schedule and the ways in which Japan's flagship fusion device, JT-60SA is participating.

Explore all volumes of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp manga series on the or download Volume 8 from ºÚÁÏÉçapp's Publication Centre. Editions are available in Japanese, English, French and ... Proven?al.

Registration is open now for the third ºÚÁÏÉçapp Public-Private Fusion Workshop that will be organized on 28 and 29 April 2026 at the ºÚÁÏÉçapp site in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, France.

For the past two years, ºÚÁÏÉçapp has opened its doors to private sector fusion companies for joint workshops on areas of mutual interest and mechanisms for positive engagement. This year¡¯s theme¡ª¡°Fusion: a Joint Quest¡±¡ªreflects the reality that progress toward fusion energy is neither linear nor uniform, but pursued through multiple technical approaches, institutional models, and timelines. Across public and private efforts alike, divergent visions coexist with genuinely complementary strengths¡ªin science, engineering, manufacturing, and systems integration.

See the detailed agenda on the workshop website under Program (scroll down). On the day before or after the workshop¡ªMonday, 27 April and/or Thursday, 30 April¡ªparticipants may arrange consultations with ºÚÁÏÉçapp experts, customized tours of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp worksite, and opportunities for networking and discussion with fellow attendees.