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​Russia is developing a hybrid nuclear reactor that uses both nuclear fusion and fission, said head of leading nuclear research facility. The project is open for international collaboration, particularly from Chinese scientists.

A hybrid nuclear reactor is a sort of stepping stone to building a true nuclear fusion reactor. It uses a fusion reaction as a source of neutrons to initiate a fission reaction in a 'blanket' of traditional nuclear fuel.

The approach has a number of potential benefits in terms of safety, non-proliferation and cost of generated energy, and Russia is developing such a hybrid reactor, according to Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the Kurchatov Research Center.

"Today we have started the realization of a distinctively new project. We are trying to combine a schematically operational nuclear plant reactor with a 'tokamak' to create a hybrid reactor," he told RIA Novosti, referring to a type of fusion reactor design.

Photo:  Director of the Kurchatov Research Center Mikhail Kovalchuk  Read the whole story on the  website and also (in Russian) on the website.

​Manufacturing is underway in India for the acceleration grid power supplies that will be supplied to the SPIDER test bed in Italy as well as to ������app's diagnostic neutral beam.

  The technical specifications for both acceleration grid power supplies are similar (system rated for 96 kVDC, 75 A). The SPIDER test bed is designed to finalize the development of the ion sources required for the ������app neutral beam injectors and to test all essential aspects of the diagnostic neutral beam accelerator.   Following the Final Design Review held in August 2013 for the acceleration grid power supplies, a Manufacturing Readiness Review was conducted early this year at the Indian Domestic Agency with the participation of the ������app and ECIL, the Indian manufacturer responsible for the fabrication of the system and its installation at the SPIDER test bed in Padua, Italy.   Major components of the acceleration grid power supplies—60 kW water-cooled switched power supply modules and 2.8 MVA oil-cooled multi-secondary transformers—are presently being inspected at intermediate stages and the factory acceptance test for the first batch is scheduled for the end of November 2014.   Discussions are also being held with local support agencies for SPIDER site works with coordination assistance from the Consorzio RFX team in Padua.   Dilshad Sulaiman, ������app India      

The German science and engineering website recently featured a three-hour audio interview of ​������app physicist Richard Pitts. The program focuses on the physics and the engineering challenges of ������app, but also addresses some of the unique organizational aspects of the project.

​A General Atomics physicist has won one of the most prestigious awards in fusion energy research, it was announced this week at a major international scientific conference in Russia.

Dr. Philip Snyder, who works in General Atomics' San Diego headquarters, received the 2014 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Fusion Prize. The award was announced at the biennial conference during the opening ceremony of the 25th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference being held 13-18 October in St. Petersburg.

Dr. Snyder won the prize for his published scientific paper judged to provide the most impact in nuclear fusion over the last two years. Dr. Snyder has spent the last 15 years working in fusion research at General Atomics, where he serves as Director of Theory and Computational Science for the Energy and Advanced Concepts Group.

Read more on the  website.

The 25th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2014) will be held from 13 to 18 October 2014 in Saint Petersburg, the Russian Federation.   The event, hosted by the Government of the Russian Federation through the Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation, provides a forum for the discussion of key physics and technology issues as well as innovative concepts of direct relevance to fusion as a source of nuclear energy. The Conference is the world's largest conference in the field of nuclear fusion.   Thematic sessions on topics such as fusion engineering, fusion nuclear physics and technology, innovative confinement concepts and more will be held as part of the Conference, which also includes the awarding of a Nuclear Fusion Prize for outstanding achievements in nuclear fusion.   The IAEA hosts an International Conference on Nuclear Fusion Energy every second year. More information is available at the conference .

​Scientists are reporting a significant advance in the quest to develop an alternative approach to nuclear fusion. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, using the lab's Z machine, a colossal electric pulse generator capable of producing currents of tens of millions of amperes, say they have detected significant numbers of neutrons—byproducts of fusion reactions—coming from the experiment. This, they say, demonstrates the viability of their approach and marks progress toward the ultimate goal of producing more energy than the fusion device takes in.

Read more on web site.

​The autumn issue of Fusion in Europe is available for download at this .

The 20-page issue covers the recent launch of EUROfusion (the European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy), preparations for the initial plasma experiments on the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator (scheduled next year), and news from the control rooms of the JET and ASDEX Upgrade tokamaks.

Fusion in Europe is published three times per year.

​On 9 October 2014 the European Commission officially launched the European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy, EUROfusion for short. EUROfusion manages the European fusion research activities on behalf of Euratom, which awards the appropriate grant to the consortium.

The new consortium agreement will substitute the fourteen year-old European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), as well as 29 bilateral Association agreements between the Commission and research institutions in 27 countries. The Grant Agreement (contract) provides EUR 424 million in funding from the Euratom Horizon 2020 programme 2014-18 and the same amount from Member States, adding up to an overall budget of EUR 850 million for 5 years.

The launch of EUROfusion was celebrated with Europe's fusion research community in the heart of the European Quarter, the Solvay Library.

Read the full report on the new EUROfusion website .

​VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has reached an important objective in the development of ������app fusion reactor remote control, when the divertor cassette was replaced for the first time using remote control in the research facility for remote controlled maintenance. This operation is one of the most demanding measures in the forthcoming ������app fusion reactor, the construction of which is proceeding rapidly in Cadarache, Southern France.

The requirements for the technologies used in ������app, are high, since they are used to control the fusion plasma burning at a temperature of hundred million degrees centigrade. Once the ������app comes into use, its core is activated when bombed by neutrons. Therefore, all maintenance, inspection and repair measures are performed using remote operation.

Located in the lower part of the ������app reactor chamber, the 54 cassettes of the reactor component, or the divertor, measuring 3.4 m x 2.3 m x 0.6 m and weighing approximately 10 tonnes each, need to be handled at tolerances of a few millimetres. The divertor cassette is like a giant ashtray, into which the hot ashes and impurities settle.   Read more on the  website.

The Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research, ������app's neighbour in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, has published issue #6 of the WEST newsletter.

The issue features a report on the 1st international WEST workshop held in Aix-en-Provence on 30 June-2 July and several articles documenting the project's progress.

WEST stands for (W Environment in Steady-state Tokamak), where "W" is the chemical symbol of tungsten.

Read here.

The European Domestic Agency for ������app, Fusion for Energy (F4E), is organizing a major business event from 10 to 12 June 2015.

The Fusion for Energy Forum is designed as a networking event, aiming to bring together industry representatives, SMEs, European fusion laboratories and policy makers around ������app business opportunities.

Participants will have access to the latest information regarding Europe's procurement strategies, the opportunity to meet with F4E procurement staff and the possiblity of creating ties through business to business (B2B) sessions.

All information on the Fusion for Energy Forum is centralized on the event .

German researchers Christian Day and Thomas Giegerich from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are the first recipients of the European Prize for Innovation in Fusion Research launched by the European Commission. The prize—a new funding instrument introduced by the Horizon 2020 Program—rewards excellence in innovation in the fusion research program as well as the quality of the researchers and industries involved.

The winners were announced on Tuesday 30 September during the 28th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) in San Sebastian, Spain. The winning innovation—called KALPUREX (short for: Karlsruhe liquid metal based pumping process for fusion reactor exhaust gases)—is a novel fuel cycle concept for DEMO and future fusion power plants. While ������app will rely on a cryogenic pumping and gas separation system, the gas throughput within a fusion power plant is expected to be many factors higher. Increasing the cryogenic pumping and separating capacities would require even larger and more expensive cryogenic facilities, clearly impacting plant investment and operational costs.   The KALPUREX design concept proposes non-cryogenic vacuum pumping, based on continuous operation (important to limiting fuel build-up in the machine) and gas separation close to the torus vessel (allowing a direct shortcut between the pumping and the fuelling systems). Tests have been performed at KIT on vacuum pumps capable of performing continually and three technologies were identified—a metal foil pump, a vapor diffusion pump and a modified liquid ring pump (much used in the chemical industry).   A patent has been filed for the KALPUREX process, which is expected to be of high interest to European industry. For more information on the KALPUREX design, please contact Christian Day directly at @email.   Sabina Griffith​   --Pictured: Christian Day and Thomas Giegerich from KIT

​On 9 October 2014 the European Commission invites the fusion community into the heart of the European Quarter, the Solvay Library, to officially launch the European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy, EUROfusion for short. The new consortium agreement will substitute the fourteen year-old European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), as well as 29 bilateral Association agreements between the Commission and research institutions in 27 countries.

The formation of EUROfusion marks a big step forward for Europe's quest to develop fusion power as a climate-friendly energy source that will contribute to meet a growing global energy demand. The EUROfusion Consortium enables Europe's national laboratories to pool their resources even more efficiently — a measure which became necessary to meet the challenge of increasingly complex and large-scale projects such as ������app and DEMO.

The preparation for such a joint fusion programme started in 2012. All EU research laboratories jointly drafted a detailed goal-oriented programme to realise fusion energy by 2050. This programme, known as the 'Roadmap to the Realisation of Fusion Electricity' outlines the most efficient path to fusion power. By the end of that year it was endorsed by all parties.

The roadmap has two main aims: Preparing for ������app experiments in order to ensure that Europe makes best possible use of ������app and to develop concepts for a fusion power demonstration plant DEMO. The necessary research towards reaching these aims is carried out by universities and research centres within the current European Framework Programme Horizon 2020. More than before does the programme involve industries in the process of designing components and finding technical solutions.

Through EUROfusion, the European fusion research programme will have direct access to various European experiments that are relevant to fulfil roadmap missions. The world's largest magnetic fusion experiment, the Joint European Torus (JET) in Culham, UK, will continue to be exploited by EUROfusion until 2018. JET, often nicknamed "Little ������app", has already been paving the way for ������app and continues to align its scientific programme to ������app needs.

The Solvay library is the ideal venue for the launch of EUROfusion: inaugurated in 1902 its architecture accommodated new ways of academic teaching. The new architecture of EUROfusion strengthens Europe's leading position in fusion research by integrating a strong central programming.

Article orginally posted on the EFDA .

​The extension to the ������app Headquarters to the ������app was handed over on 30 September in a ceremony during which Tim Watson, head of the Buildings and Site Infrastructure Directorate, accepted the building from the contractor Travaux du Midi.

The 3,500-square-metre extension (5 storeys high, 35 metres long) will share the same architectural features as the existing building. It will accomodate some 350 ������app staff and contractors  presently hosted in buildings one kilometre away.

Moving will be organized in stages from October to December 2014.

From left to right: Tim Watson, head of the ������app Buildings & Site Directorate; architect Tillman Reichert (Ricciotti Architects); and Pierre Bisagno of Les Travaux du Midi.

​Studying the intricacies and mysteries of the sun is physicist Wendell Horton life's work. A widely known authority on plasma physics, his study of the high temperature gases on the sun, or plasma, consistently leads him around the world to work on a diverse range of projects that have great impact.

Fusion energy is one such key scientific issue that Horton is investigating and one that has intrigued researchers for decades. ...   It's no secret that the demand for energy around the world is outpacing the supply. Fusion energy has tremendous potential, however, harnessing the power of the sun for this burgeoning energy source requires extensive work.   Through the Institute for Fusion Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, Horton collaborates with researchers at ������app, a fusion lab in France and the National Institute for Fusion Science in Japan to address these challenges. At ������app, Horton is working with researchers to build the world's largest tokamak—the device that is leading the way to produce fusion energy in the laboratory. ...   Perfecting the design of the tokamak is essential to producing and since it is not fully developed, Horton performs supercomputer simulations on the Stampede supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) to model plasma flow and turbulence inside the device.   "Simulations give us information about plasma in three dimensions and in time, so that we are able to see details beyond what we would get with analytic theory and probes and high-tech diagnostic measurements," Horton said

Read more at .

 

​The leading event worldwide for the exchange information on the design, construction and operation of fusion experiments—and on the technology for present fusion machines and future power plants—got off to a start on Monday 29 September in San Sebastián, Spain.

In front of the 800 scientists, engineers, developers, manufacturers and students taking part in the week-long event, ������app Director-General Osamu Motojima presented the "Progress and planning of ������app" in one of the first introductory sessions.

The symposium, organized by the Spanish Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT), continues through Friday 3 October with oral and poster presentations, industrial and R&D exhibitions, and an ������app Industrial Infoday on Tuesday 30 September.

On Monday 29 September, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, celebrated its 60th anniversary with an event attended by delegations from 35 countries.

Founded in 1954, CERN's origins can be traced back to the aftermath of the Second World War, when a small group of visionary scientists and public administrators on both sides of the Atlantic identified fundamental research as a potential vehicle to rebuild the continent and to foster peace in a troubled region.

Today, CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world and a prime example of international collaboration, bringing together scientists representing almost 100 nationalities.

A full report and videos are available on the CERN .

​In November 2006, the last LHC dipole and quadrupole cold masses arrived at CERN, signalling the end of the industrial construction of the major components of the new 27-km particle collider (CERN Courier and ).

The LHC then entered the installation and the commissioning phases. In the same month, at the Elysée Palace in Paris, the ������app Agreement was signed by seven parties: China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US. The Agreement's ratification in October of the following year marked the start of a new mega-science project — ������app ... that in many respects is the heir of the LHC.

Both machines are based on, for example, a huge superconducting magnet system, large cryogenic plants of unmatched power, a large volume of ultra-high vacuum, a complex electrical powering system, sophisticated interlock and protection systems, high-technology devices and work in highly radioactive environments.

Read more on the  website.

​The University of Wisconsin Fusion Technology Institute, founded in 1971, has been a leader in fusion and plasma physics research, with a broad range of basic science, engineering, and applications programs.

The Institute has done pioneering experimental work using advanced helium-3 fuel to produce fusion energy. Dr. Kulcinski is the Director of the Institute, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, and Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering. He has led a scientific team which has doggedly pursued, and tirelessly promoted, research into the advanced fusion fuels, such as helium-3, which will create the energy for the future.

Read more in the 

​For its fourth edition, the Low Carbon Earth Summit confirmed its role as a major annual event attracting an international audience concerned by—and involved in—the issue of sustainable development. ������app 1,000 participants from all over the world, two Nobel Laureates, and a hundred of presenters were present from 21 to 23 September in Qingdao, China; from a quantitative point of view the event was clearly successful.

And from a qualitative point of view as well, as the conference convincingly showed that we have entered a new age. Many examples of technological developments were presented that result or will result in a net decrease in carbon emissions.

The diversity of low-carbon initiatives around the world is absolutely impressive. Adaptation and mitigation of climate change are now embedded at all levels at the society (technology, law, education) and in all countries. In Australia, for example, the government has begun approaching groups that will be affected by the rise in ocean level to explore the possible actions. In China, Oxfam is conducting pilot projects in rural areas in order to evaluate the resilience of the food system and the vulnerability of the poorest to climate change. Legislation and law also need to be adapted. Studies conducted in several countries by the Swedish lawyer Peter Lohmander show that forests can be exploited in a sustainable way provided that regulations are modified. Many initiatives have been taken across all countries in educating people and raising public awareness. Hence the diversity of the participant's profiles: there are not many conferences today where you can find at the same table a lawyer, an economist, a farmer, a physicist and an entrepreneur.

Against this backdrop, I presented ������app as a genuine disruptive and innovative technology that is likely to change the course of our civilization.

As the world's most populated country and a key economic actor, China was obviously the focus of many discussions. During the opening session two Nobel Prize winners in economics, Edward Prescott (2004) and Sir Christopher Pissarides (2010), showed that the future of the Chinese "economic miracle" will depend on the government's capacity of reforming the country's economic institutions and significantly deregulating its services industry.

In this respect, said Sir Christopher, China has a historical opportunity "not make the same mistake as many European countries." The 2010 Nobel Prize winner added that he saw "China's opportunities in the globalized world as high technology manufacturing. Its research system is now mature enough to really start innovating."

-Michel Claessens, head of ������app Communication & External Relations