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The tokamak thermonuclear fusion reactor at Swiss Plasma Center. Credit: Alain Herzog (EPFL)

A new law unchains fusion energy

— Physicists at EPFL, within a large European collaboration, have revised one of the fundamental laws that has been foundational to plasma and fusion research for over three decades, even governing the design of megaprojects like ITER. The update shows that we can actually safely use more hydrogen fuel in fusion reactors, and therefore obtain more energy than previously thought.

© 2022 EPFL

Interview of Arsène Tema Biwole Excellence in Africa Ambassador, EPFL

— Arsène Tema Biwolé is a Cameroonian physicist, passionate about nuclear technologies and collaborates at the Swiss Plasma Center of EPFL.

Plasma inside the TCV tokamak. Picture: Curdin Wüthrich /SPC/EPFL

EPFL and DeepMind use AI to control plasmas for nuclear fusion

— Scientists at EPFL’s Swiss Plasma Center and DeepMind have jointly developed a new method for controlling plasma configurations for use in nuclear fusion research.

Credit: UKAEA

European researchers achieve fusion energy record

— Record-breaking 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy demonstrates potential of fusion at the world-leading Joint European Torus (JET) facility in Oxford, UK

Source: EUROfusion

EUROfusion signs Horizon Europe Grant Agreement

— With the signing of the official Grant Agreement, the EUROfusion consortium is ready to start its new, comprehensive approach to developing fusion energy. Written by Gieljan de Vries, EUROfusion

Source: EUROfusion

How Switzerland and the UK stayed part of EUROfusion

— Two members of EUROfusion discovered that new political realities prevented them from directly joining EUROfusion under the EU new seven-year funding programme Horizon Europe. EUROfusion spoke the UK and Swiss partners about how collaboration within the consortium has enabled them to continue as part of the European fusion programme nonetheless. Interview by Gieljan de Vries, EUROfusion.

Paolo Ricci received his Polysphère d’Or award at this year’s graduation ceremony. © Christian Brun 2021 EPFL

“The more you put into teaching, the more you get out”

— Paolo Ricci, a physics professor at EPFL for over ten years, is the winner of this year’s "Polysphère d’Or" – an award given by students to honor teaching excellence.

© Carlos Castilla iStock photos

New high-performance computing hub aims to harness the sun's energy

— EPFL will soon be home to a European hub for high-performance computing focused on fusion power – a potential source of clean, risk-free energy. As part of this effort, EPFL’s Swiss Plasma Center will lead a campus-wide, cross-disciplinary research team.

Joaquim Loizu (left), recipient of the 2020 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Plasma Physics receiving the award from Minh Quang Tran [Chair, IUPAP Commission C16] © DR

Joaquim Loizu granted the IUPAP 2020 Prize in plasma physics

— Joaquim Loizu, a researcher at EPFL’s Swiss Plasma Center, is the recipient of IUPAP’s (International Union of pure and applied physics) 2020 Young Scientist Prize in plasma physics. This prize is awarded annually to a young international scientist for outstanding research.

The TCV Tokamak at EPFL’s Swiss Plasma Center © A. Herzog / EPFL

Heat loss control method in fusion reactors in Nature Communications

— The core of a fusion reactor is incredibly hot. Hydrogen that inevitably escapes from it must be cooled on its way to the wall, as otherwise, the reactor wall would be damaged. Researchers from the Dutch institute DIFFER and EPFL’s Swiss Plasma Center have developed a strict measurement and control method for the cooling of very hot particles escaping from fusion plasmas. This milestone for fusion research is published in Nature Communications. 

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