Fusion at ÖAW

Europe advances stellarator fusion research with the launch of Project WISER 🔬🇪🇺
Spain has just launched Project WISER (WInd-tunnel for a StEllarator Reactor), a new fusion initiative supported by a public-private investment of approximately €500 million.

The project includes both the construction of the WISER stellarator and the development of enabling technologies needed for future fusion reactors. Building on decades of European stellarator research, including Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X and Spain’s TJ-II, WISER represents a further step in strengthening Europe’s leadership in optimized stellarator research and future reactor development.

Read more: https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/europe-advances-stellarator-fusion-research-with-the-launch-of-project-wiser/

The DivVUV spectrometer has arrived at the JT-60SA tokamak site in Naka, Japan.
This new diagnostic system will help researchers look at the divertor — the area where plasma interacts with the surrounding structures. By tracking light emitted by impurities such as carbon and oxygen, and seeded gases such as neon and argon, the system will support studies on power exhaust and plasma detachment.
The instrument is the result of a multi-year collaboration between EUROfusion members in Germany, Romania, Poland and Italy, with final assembly and testing completed at ENEA Frascati.

https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/a-divertor-spectroscopic-imaging-diagnostic-of-the-plasma-emission-being-installed-in-jt-60sa/

Installation is now underway, with first plasma light expected during JT-60SA operation phase 2.

Präzisionsmessung unter Beschuss – Wenn die Waage selbst zum Messobjekt wird Wie misst man mit einer der empfindlichsten Waagen der Welt? An der TU Wien zeigte man, wie die Messung nicht nur das Messobjekt, sondern auch die Waage selbst beeinflusst, und wo die absoluten Grenzen der Präzision liegen.

A new brochure about the activities of the Austrian Fusion Research Unit in 2024 and 2025 has been published. You can find more informations and a link to the brochure here:

https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/fusion/news/news-1/fusion-research-in-austria-2024-2025

EUROfusion

Defining the key physics gaps on the road to a stellarator reactor

Wendelstein 7-X has strengthened confidence in the stellarator as a possible path to fusion power. Building on that progress, experts from leading European laboratories, led by Marcin Jakubowski, project leader of EUROfusion Work Package Stellarator, have worked together to identify the most important physics questions that still need to be answered for a First-of-a-Kind stellarator reactor.

The result is a new community report: Key Physics Uncertainties and Related Investigation Needs towards Stellarator Reactors. It maps and prioritises the main open issues across scenario integration, fast particles and Alfvén waves, core transport, MHD equilibrium and rotational transform control, and heat and particle exhaust and plasma-wall interaction.
By defining these research priorities early, the stellarator community is helping to build a stronger scientific basis for HELIAS First-of-a-Kind and for Europe’s broader fusion roadmap.

Read more here: https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/defining-key-physics-gaps-towards-stellarator-reactor/

“I am intrigued by the reward that waits at the end of the quest towards nuclear fusion on earth – harnessing clean, safe and virtually inexhaustible amounts of energy.” – Jonatan Schatzlmayr (Technical University of Graz)

New PhD interview: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/fusion/news/news-1/33rd-phd-interview-english