F4E and EUROfusion share expertise for plasma heating

One of the key factors in the fusion formula is temperature. Devices like ITER will need to heat the plasma up to 150 million °C –ten times hotter than the core of the Sun – and keep it burning. To achieve these extreme conditions, ITER will rely on technologies like the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH), designed to turn electricity into 1 MW electromagnetic waves and inject them in the tokamak.

Fusion for Energy (F4E) is providing key components for this system, such as high voltage supplies, gyrotrons or the launchers. In its unprecedented power and complexity, ITER’s ECRH draws on decades of cutting-edge research and development by European scientists. In this context, F4E and EUROfusion (the consortium of European fusion labs) are seizing new synergies to pool and advance knowledge for ITER and future fusion plants like DEMO.

An example of this collaboration is the ECRH community, a grassroots network of experts from F4E and the European laboratories, as well as Japan’s QST and ITER Organization. Since last year, they have been organising online seminars, training courses for new operators, or conduct joint studies on a variety of ECRH topics. The group met recently for a 3-day workshop, hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald, Germany. 

Besides this, F4E has recently partnered with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), a member of EUROfusion. The German research centre will provide support in engineering and physics for F4E’s projects in the area of ECRH, with the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) as subcontractors. Their first tasks will be helping with the Final Design Review of the ITER gyrotrons, which Thales will manufacture for F4E. Crucially, KIT and SPC own two specialised test stands for gyrotrons, essential to qualify this critical heating technology.

“The European fusion labs have world-class expertise in ECRH technologies, as they have been developing, testing and analysing them for over 20 years. There is a clear complementarity between their experience and F4E’s work to supply components to ITER,” explains Paco Sánchez, Gyrotrons Project Manager at F4E.

“Through this contract we have an excellent opportunity to contribute to ITER and keep deepening our knowledge in key fusion systems like megawatt-class gyrotrons, EC launchers, transmission lines, matching optical units and diamond windows” celebrates Prof. John Jelonnek, Head of the Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology (IHM) at KIT.

This teamwork is in the spirit of the agreement recently signed between F4E and EUROfusion. In a new Memorandum of Understanding, both entities committed to keep collaborating to strengthen Europe’s scientific and technological leadership in fusion.

What are gyrotrons and how do they work? Read the article by EUROfusion.