UK Fusion Programme 2008-2010
Lead Research Organisation:
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Department Name: Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
Abstract
Fusion is the main energy source of the universe; it is the process that powers the sun and the stars. If it can be harnessed economically on earth, it has the potential to be an important component of the portfolio of measures needed to ensure a secure, environmentally responsible, supply of energy, at a time when fossil fuels will be becoming increasingly expensive. There is increasing realisation of this potential as reflected by the launch of the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, being built in France, which will be the first fusion device to achieve energy gain and sustained burn.In a fusion reaction, large amounts of energy are released when the nuclei of two light atoms fuse together at extremely high temperatures to create a nucleus of a larger atom. In the most promising way to achieve these conditions on earth, strong magnetic fields in a tokamak configuration are used to control and confine the high temperature plasma.UKAEA's Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire is one of the world's leading fusion research centres, and contributes to fusion research in two ways: (i) through the UK's own programme focused on the spherical tokamak experiment MAST, and (ii) by contributing to the Joint European Torus (JET) programme. International co-operation is strong with the focus on the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER). EURATOM part-funds all national programmes in Europe including the UK's.Experimental programmes on the MAST and JET tokamaks are performed to help resolve and refine understanding of key physics issues for ITER. In addition, experimental programmes on MAST focus on testing the potential of the spherical tokamak as a more compact option for future fusion devices. A strong theory and modelling group, utilising parallel- and super-computing facilities, supports the experimental programmes and contributes to the research and development of fusion materials and to studies of conceptual fusion power stations. The UK leads the research and development of two ITER specialist (diagnostic and heating) systems, and participates in several others of these large complex projects.The results of the research are presented in reports and publications, and at conferences, expert groups and specialist committees. Collaborations with researchers in other areas of science and technology are pursued strongly, where the research overlaps with fusion R&D, and increasingly there are fusion researchers in universities with whom UKAEA works.The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the European Commission fund, provide advice and monitor the UK fusion programme (some of the European funding / for work on ITER systems - is now channelled through the new Fusion for Energy Agency in Barcelona). The Fusion Advisory Board (FAB) advises EPSRC and UKAEA on the programme and on the longer-term strategy for fusion research at Culham; FAB receives reports from the MAST Programme Advisory Committee, a sub-group on ITER and industry, and an annual UK Fusion Materials Forum.
Publications
Tojo H
(2008)
Poloidal mode analysis of magnetic probe data in a spherical tokamak configuration.
in The Review of scientific instruments
Hirai T
(2008)
Thermal load testing of erosion-monitoring beryllium marker tile for the ITER-Like Wall Project at JET
in Fusion Engineering and Design
Krychowiak M
(2008)
LIF measurements on an atomic helium beam in the edge of a fusion plasma
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Gilbert M
(2008)
Structure and metastability of mesoscopic vacancy and interstitial loop defects in iron and tungsten
in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Lang P
(2008)
Investigation of pellet-triggered MHD events in ASDEX Upgrade and JET
in Nuclear Fusion
R J Hastie (Co-Author)
(2008)
Effect of a runaway electron current on tearing modes
Muir D
(2008)
MAST's Integrated Data Access Management system: IDAM
in Fusion Engineering and Design
Roth J
(2008)
Tritium inventory in ITER plasma-facing materials and tritium removal procedures
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
S E Sharapov (Co-Author)
(2008)
Modelling of beam-driven high frequency Alfvén eigenmodes in MAST
Khakshouri S
(2008)
Development of an electron-temperature-dependent interatomic potential for molecular dynamics simulation of tungsten under electronic excitation
in Physical Review B
Abel I
(2008)
Linearized model Fokker-Planck collision operators for gyrokinetic simulations. I. Theory
in Physics of Plasmas
L Appel (Co-Author)
(2008)
Modelling observations of mode polarisation from MAST
Fitzgerald S
(2008)
Dislocation pile-ups in Fe at high temperature
in Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Oyama N
(2008)
Effect of toroidal field ripple and toroidal rotation on H-mode performance and ELM characteristics in JET/JT-60U similarity experiments
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Liu Y
(2008)
An analytical demonstration of coupling schemes between magnetohydrodynamic codes and eddy current codes
in Physics of Plasmas
Sartori F
(2008)
The JET PCU project: An international plasma control project
in Fusion Engineering and Design
Craciunescu T
(2008)
The maximum likelihood reconstruction method for JET neutron tomography
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Liu Y
(2008)
Toroidal self-consistent modeling of drift kinetic effects on the resistive wall mode
in Physics of Plasmas
Orsitto F
(2008)
Modelling of polarimetry measurements at JET
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Dudarev S
(2008)
The non-Arrhenius migration of interstitial defects in bcc transition metals
in Comptes Rendus. Physique
Kirk A
(2008)
Comparison of the spatial and temporal structure of type-I ELMs
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Bekris N
(2008)
Ex-situ tritium removal from JET tiles using RF inductive heating
in Fusion Engineering and Design
Rapp J
(2008)
Septum assessment of the JET gas box divertor
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Valovic M
(2008)
Particle confinement of pellet-fuelled H-mode plasmas in the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Falchetto G
(2008)
The European turbulence code benchmarking effort: turbulence driven by thermal gradients in magnetically confined plasmas
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Albanese R
(2008)
Identification of Vertical Instabilities in the JET Tokamak
in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics
Buttery R
(2008)
The influence of rotation on the ßN threshold for the 2/1 neoclassical tearing mode in DIII-D
in Physics of Plasmas
Andrew Y
(2008)
H-mode access on JET and implications for ITER
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Gryaznevich M
(2008)
Recent experiments on Alfvén eigenmodes in MAST
in Nuclear Fusion
D Keeling (Author)
(2008)
Tailoring the q-profile on MAST for scenario optimisation
Appel L
(2008)
Compressional Alfvén Eigenmodes on MAST
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
C D Challis (Co-Author)
(2008)
Radial analysis of beta-limiting modes in JET
Sircombe N
(2008)
On the role of electron acoustic waves and beam acoustic modes in laser backscatter from plasmas
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Manduchi G
(2008)
A universal access layer for the Integrated Tokamak Modelling Task Force
in Fusion Engineering and Design
I Cook (Author)
(2008)
'DEMO' and the route to fusion power
in ATW-International Journal for Nuclear Power
Nguyen-Manh D
(2008)
The Fe-Cr system: atomistic modelling of thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformations
in Comptes Rendus. Physique
Schekochihin A
(2008)
Gyrokinetic turbulence: a nonlinear route to dissipation through phase space
in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
M Turnyanskiy (Co-Author)
(2008)
Neutral particle diagnostics at MAST with a compact energy analyser and comparison with charge exchange recombination
Nguyen-Manh D
(2008)
Ab initio and Monte Carlo modeling in Fe-Cr system: Magnetic origin of anomalous thermodynamic and kinetic properties
in Computational Materials Science
Pampin R
(2008)
Analysis of near-term fusion power plant designs from the material management stance
in Fusion Engineering and Design
S Knipe (Co-Author)
(2008)
Tritium in Fusion: R&D in the EU
in Fusion Science & Technology
Strachan J
(2008)
Modelling of carbon migration during JET 13 C injection experiments
in Nuclear Fusion
Laborde L
(2008)
Simulation of Joint European Torus beta scan experiments using theory-based models
in Physics of Plasmas
Villone F
(2008)
Effects of three-dimensional electromagnetic structures on resistive-wall-mode stability of reversed field pinches.
in Physical review letters
Castro R
(2008)
PAPI based federation as a test-bed for a common security infrastructure in EFDA sites
in Fusion Engineering and Design
Pereverzev G
(2008)
Stable numeric scheme for diffusion equation with a stiff transport
in Computer Physics Communications
Kempenaars M
(2008)
Enhancement of the JET edge LIDAR Thomson scattering diagnostic with ultrafast detectors.
in The Review of scientific instruments
Meyer H
(2008)
The structure, evolution and role of the radial edge electric field in H-mode and L-mode on MAST
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Liu Y
(2008)
Magnetic drift kinetic damping of the resistive wall mode in large aspect ratio tokamaks
in Physics of Plasmas
| Description | Fusion research is focused on ITER (the international experiment being built in France) followed by a demonstration power station (DEMO). The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) is a world-leading fusion research centre. Some highlights from the last two years are summarised below (many the result of collaborations with universities and overseas laboratories). Additional information is in Annual Reports (http://www.ccfe.ac.uk/annual_reports.aspx). Reacting plasmas: The UK programme, funded by EPSRC and EURATOM, is focused on the MAST experiment. Physics studies benefited from high power heating systems and improvements to diagnostics. A major upgrade to the system to measure temperature and density profiles (part funded by York University) was completed and provides unmatched spatial resolution. Important progress from both MAST, and the linked Theory and Modelling programme, has been made in several key areas directly relevant to optimising ITER performance:- energy confinement, enabling more reliable prediction of plasma performance in future devices; control of potentially damaging instabilities; improved understanding of performance limiting core and edge plasma instabilities; gas injection to mitigate the effects of rapid plasma terminations (disruptions), etc. CCFE has contributed to the European JET programme, with notable achievements including operation at high power and current, and substantial progress in scenarios that are suitable for steady state operation in ITER. The EPSRC grant pays the UK contribution to JET operation. Materials: Work included: development of techniques for modelling iron-chromium alloys in the high-temperature limit; modelling of steels and tungsten to compare with experimental data from Oxford University; Ion Beam Analysis measurements of erosion, deposition and hydrogen-isotope retention in tiles removed from the JET tokamak. ITER Systems: CCFE has secured lead roles in two major grants to develop ITER heating systems, and leads a consortium to bid for the LIDAR temperature and density measurement system. CCFE has smaller roles in several other areas. Optimised power plants: Work has concentrated on a detailed assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of pulsed and steady-state DEMOs. Several clear advantages in a steady-state device were identified, however the potential simplification in a pulsed device (greatly reduced need for current drive) is a significant counter-advantage. Conceptual design studies of a spherical tokamak Component Test Facility have continued. A big challenge for any fusion system is dealing with the large exhaust power from burning plasmas. One novel promising option, for both DEMO and CTF, which will be part of the MAST upgrade, is the "Super-X" expanded divertor. Major upgrade to MAST: the design has been developed. The purpose is to give higher performance, longer pulse plasmas allowing definitive tests of the physics of an ST-based CTF, and more exacting studies of ITER physics. In late 2009, RCUK reviewed UK fusion research and following this EPSRC approved funding for the upgrade. In addition CCFE has promoted industry involvement in fusion and significantly assisted UK companies in winning ITER business, increased university involvement (e.g. PhDs), and developed its skills-base for an increased emphasis on technology as recommended by the RCUK review. |
| Exploitation Route | In addition CCFE has promoted industry involvement in fusion and significantly assisted UK companies in winning ITER business, increased university involvement (e.g. PhDs), and developed its skills-base for an increased emphasis on technology as recommended by the RCUK review. |
| Sectors | Energy |
| URL | http://www.ccfe.ac.uk/annual_reports.aspx |
| Description | As well as its long term task, developing fusion power, CCFE has promoted industry involvement in fusion. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
| Sector | Energy |
| Impact Types | Economic |