Part 1 of 2 Parts

In a comprehensive experimental study, an international team of researchers has confirmed that the calculations of a leading turbulence simulation program match experimental data to an unprecedented degree. This marks an important breakthrough in understanding turbulent transport processes in nuclear fusion reactors.

The simulation study has now been published in the journal Nature Communications. It lays out a crucial foundation for predicting the performance of fusion power plants.

Future fusion power plants will generate usable energy efficiently by fusing light atomic nuclei. Magnetic confinement fusion is the most advanced approach to confining a plasma. A gas is heated to millions of degrees Fahrenheit, within a magnetic field. This plasma is suspended inside a donut-shaped vacuum chamber without touching the wall of the reactor.

The energy released from the nuclear fusion reaction is intended for two purposes. It not only generates electricity but also maintains plasma temperature. To sustain the fusion reaction, the plasma must retain as much energy as possible. This is what researchers refer to as achieving a high-energy confinement time.

To reach this goal, physicists must first understand the extremely complex turbulent processes in plasmas and, ideally, find ways to regulate them. To some extent, turbulence is actually beneficial because it helps transport the helium nuclei, which are byproducts of the fusion reaction, out of the plasma while bringing fresh fuel into the core. However, excessive turbulence decreases the energy confinement time because the energy escapes from the plasma center too quickly.

Dr. Klara Höfler is a physicist who studied this phenomenon at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching near Munich. “You can compare this to a drop of milk in a cup of coffee: if you stir with a spoon, turbulent eddies form, and the liquids mix much faster than without stirring.”

Working with colleagues from IPP and five other research institutions in Europe and the United States, she has made a significant breakthrough in understanding turbulence in fusion plasmas. For the first time, the researchers achieved a comprehensive agreement between experimental results and computer simulations. The team simultaneously compared seven key plasma turbulence parameters which are significantly more than the parameters examined in previous studies.

For the new study, Höfler employed the world’s unique diagnostic equipment at the IPP fusion device Axially Symmetric Divertor Experiment (ASDEX) Upgrade. ASDEX Upgrade is a divertor tokamak at the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Garching that went into operation in 1991. At present, it is Germany’s second largest fusion experiment after stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. The current purpose of the facility is to make experiments under reactor-like conditions possible, essential plasma properties. They are focused on measuring the plasma density and pressure and the wall load. The ASDEX Upgrade has been adapted to replicate the conditions that will be present in a future fusion power plant.

This equipment allowed her to precisely measure the properties of the multi-million-degree plasma during two discharges with different settings. Her team compared plasma measurement data from two discharges at ASDEX Upgrade with the results of GENE simulations.

ASDEX Upgrade

Please read Part 2 next

Innovative reactor developer Newcleo has acquired a site in Chusclan in the Gard department in southern France on which it will construct an R&D innovation and training center supporting the development of its future fuel assembly manufacturing facility in France.

Newcleo said the Fuel process Assembly Storage Training and Enhanced Reality (FASTER) center will play a key role in its strategy to close the nuclear fuel cycle “while safely producing clean, affordable, and sustainable energy, essential for low-carbon economies”. The center will not store or handle any radioactive materials.

FASTER will host: dedicated spaces for testing engineering solutions and maintenance; advanced training facilities, including rooms equipped for virtual and augmented reality, simulators, and a training workshop with real production equipment; and development and qualification workshops designed to test and optimize manufacturing processes using cutting-edge technologies, such as 3D printing, within a high-tech environment dedicated to innovation and precision engineering. The FASTER center will be developed in collaboration with leading Italian design company Pininfarina.

Newcleo said, “By combining technological innovation with an advanced aesthetic approach, the site will provide an optimized workspace that fosters learning and research in an immersive and functional environment – illustrating how nuclear energy can drive sustainability, support net-zero goals, and secure a safe, abundant, and virtually inexhaustible energy source”.

Stefano Buono is the founder and CEO of Newcleo. He said, “The acquisition of this site marks a key milestone in our strategic roadmap. This innovation and training center, designed with Pininfarina’s renowned elegance and functionality in mind, will play a crucial role in preparing and anticipating the operations of our future pilot fuel manufacturing line … as a first structuring step, it will also support the successful deployment of our pilot line at another site in France.”

Newcleo intends to invest directly in a mixed uranium/plutonium oxide (MOX) plant to fuel its small modular lead-cooled fast reactors. In June 2022, the company announced that it had contracted France’s Orano for feasibility studies on the creation of a MOX production plant.

In December last year, Newcleo submitted its Safety Option File to France’s Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR) for its fuel assembly testing facility. The ASNR ‘s official opinion on the submitted safety options will contribute to securing the application for authorization to construct such a facility.

According to Paris-headquartered Newcleo’s delivery roadmap, the first non-nuclear pre-cursor prototype version of its reactor is expected to be ready by 2026 in Italy. The first reactor is scheduled to be operational in France by the end of 2031. The final investment decision for the first commercial Newcleo power plant is expected around 2029.

Newcleo said its first-of-a-kind thirty megawatts lead-cooled fast reactor will “serve as an industrial demonstrator, a showcase for Newcleo’s technology, and contribute to the development of the nuclear sector in France”.

Last month, Newcleo announced that it had started the land acquisition process for its demonstration LFR-AS-30 small modular reactor in Indre-et-Loire in the Chinon Vienne et Loire community of municipalities in western France.