ºÚÁÏÉçapp

By Jeff Garberson

In the mid-1950s, the small, secret weapons laboratory that eventually became Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was more vulnerable than is commonly recognized to being marginalized or closed, according to a physicist who is studying the Laboratory's early years.   After three failed nuclear tests in the early to mid 1950s, there were recommendations in influential government circles that the young laboratory either be closed or reduced to a mere support role for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico, the physicist found.  In another surprising finding, the reversal of fortune that brought success and recognition to the young Livermore laboratory in the late 1950s may have resulted from the illnesses of three of the laboratory's leaders, Ernest Lawrence, Edward Teller and Herbert York in 1954. They were laid up for months, forcing the responsibility of scientific leadership on to the shoulders of two brilliant, young physicists, John Foster and Harold Brown.   The originality of these two scientists and the teams they assembled led to nuclear weapon design changes that were soon demonstrated in successful explosive tests, which led to warheads small enough to fit on submarine-carried missiles. They altered the nuclear arsenal forever.   Read more at . 

John Greenwald

Leading experts from around the world gathered at the US Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in July to focus on a key issue for the development of fusion energy: Improving ways to predict and mitigate disruptions that can destroy magnetically confined plasmas that are needed for fusion reactions.

Confronting this challenge will be crucial for ºÚÁÏÉçapp. "The future of magnetic fusion research hangs on ºÚÁÏÉçapp being successful," said Amitava Bhattacharjee, head of the Theory Department at PPPL, which convened the 17-19 July workshop. "And ºÚÁÏÉçapp will need to avoid disruptions or mitigate them when they occur."

Workshop participants from left: PPPL Director Stewart Prager and Theory Head Amitava Bhattacharjee with David Campbell, director of plasma operations at ºÚÁÏÉçapp. (Photo by Elle Starkman/ PPPL Office of Communications)

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​When you take a flight on a jet aircraft you must go through a number of checkpoints in the airport before and after your flight — security, passport control and so on. The JET fusion experiment also has its own "airport" — the Beryllium Handling Facility: everything that goes in to and comes out of JET is processed there.

Calling it the Beryllium Handling Facility is perhaps inaccurate, as it is not only beryllium that is processed here. As well as the beryllium, which is toxic to humans, there are also radioactive components to be dealt with; either components that retain traces of radioactive tritium fuel, or that have been left radioactive by bombardment from neutrons emitted during fusion reactions. Within the three sealed workshops in the large assembly hall adjacent to the JET torus hall, components are inspected and cleaned, and waste is separated and bagged up ready for storage.   Plasma-Wall Interaction Physicist Dr Kalle Heinola refurbishing a tile diagnostic in the beryllium handling facility.  

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​A new bumper edition of Fusion in Europe is now for download.

  This issue features all the news and pictures from JET's thirtieth anniversary celebrations. The motto for the celebrations cast our mind forward: "30 years of JET — Paving the way to ºÚÁÏÉçapp's take off". Fusion in Europe continues this theme, with articles covering training programmes, young faces in fusion and preparations for DEMO.   Looking around the world of fusion there are updates from Padua, Prague, Cadarache and Korea, and we get a view from EU Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger giving his opinion on fusion's role in a low carbon future.   Also, a photo gallery of JET's 30th anniversary .

 

​The DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Research () program has awarded 809 million supercomputing core-hours to 13 new projects at Argonne to pursue "high-risk, high-payoff" simulation research in energy-mission areas and national emergency mitigation. The awards will spur research into areas including fusion energy, aqueous ion batteries, fuel cell science, earth-system models, jet engine design, and solar energy.

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​A key issue for the development of fusion energy to generate electricity is the ability to confine the superhot, charged plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions in magnetic devices called tokamaks. This gas is subject to instabilities that cause it to leak from the magnetic fields and halt fusion reactions.

Now a recently developed imaging technique can help researchers improve their control of instabilities. The new technique, developed by physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), the University of California-Davis and General Atomics in San Diego, provides new insight into how the instabilities respond to externally applied magnetic fields.

This technique, called Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) and successfully tested on the DIII-D tokamak at General Atomics, uses an array of detectors to produce a 2D profile of fluctuating electron temperatures within the plasma.

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Image credit: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

​Get an exclusive sample of the actual tokamak fusion sound .

​A new educational currency in the world of fusion becomes available this month with the launch of European Fusion Masters and Doctorate Certificates. The certificates are awarded by FuseNet, Europe's fusion education network, to recognize students with a high level of specialization in fusion, says Professor Niek Lopes Cardozo, chair of FuseNet: "Fusion is an exciting, interdisciplinary field. Our students [are] a group with special qualities and we want to recognize that. 'Fusion' is a quality brand; the certificate is a quality stamp."

The launch comes at a time when there is growing discussion of the preparation of Generation ºÚÁÏÉçapp. Writing in Science magazine, journalist Dan Clery drew attention to an "awkward gap" for fusion personnel that could eventuate between JET and ºÚÁÏÉçapp, and it is precisely this issue that FuseNet's new certification addresses.

"FuseNet plays an important role in preparing the ºÚÁÏÉçapp generation," says Duarte Borba, senior advisor to the EFDA leader. "A new generation of scientists and engineers are needed to operate ºÚÁÏÉçapp and to develop the science and technology required to build a fusion power plant."   Read more on website.

Professor Miklos Porkolab, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT and professor in the MIT's Department of Physics, received the 2013 Hannes Alfvén Prize at a ceremony held in Espoo (Helsinki), Finland on 1 July.   The honour, given annually by the European Physical Society (EPS) during their Conference on Plasma Physics, recognizes outstanding work in the field of plasma science and fusion research.   Porkolab was cited "for his seminal contributions to the physics of plasma waves and his key role in the development of fusion energy."   Read more