[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/11778\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFusion-energy quest makes big advance with EU-Japan reactor\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the eastern Japanese city of Naka stands a six-storey-high tower that is far from being an ordinary building.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe device inside the cylindrical steel structure is called a\u0026nbsp;tokamak. It\u2019s designed to hold swirling superheated gases called plasmas at up to 200 million degrees Celsius \u2013 more than 10 times hotter than the sun\u2019s core.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMajor milestone\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELocated northeast of Tokyo, the tokamak represents the next milestone in a decades-long international quest to make fusion energy a reality and reflects leading roles played by the EU and Japan.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Naka structure, known as JT-60SA, is the outcome of an EU-Japan\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%3A22007A0921%2801%29\u0022\u003Eagreement\u003C\/a\u003E from 2007 to develop fusion energy. It\u2019s the world\u2019s most powerful tokamak and was inaugurated in December 2023 after almost a decade of construction.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018JT-60SA coming into operation is a very important milestone,\u2019 said Professor Ambrogio Fasoli, an Italian physics expert who leads a consortium that received EU funding to advance the prospects for commercial energy from fusion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECalled\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/101052200\u0022\u003EEUROfusion\u003C\/a\u003E, the partnership brings together around 170 laboratories and industrial partners from 29 countries. The participants are contributing hardware and personnel to JT-60SA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFusion-energy reactors like JT-60SA replicate processes that occur in the sun and other stars. By fusing hydrogen atoms to create helium and one neutron releasing energy in the form of heat, they have the potential to generate a safe, clean and almost inexhaustible source of power.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENot fission\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFusion is the reverse of fission, the process at the heart of traditional nuclear power stations. While fission involves the division of a heavy atom into two light atoms, fusion combines two light atoms to form a larger one.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EWe managed to produce the biggest volume of plasma ever in such a device.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EGuy Phillips, Fusion for Energy\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnlike fission, fusion produces no long-lived nuclear waste and presents no risk of a meltdown or chain reaction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch into fusion began in the 1920s when a British astrophysicist named Arthur Eddington linked the energy of stars to the fusion of hydrogen into helium.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA century later, as climate change intensifies and countries worldwide seek alternatives to fossil fuels that cause it, the lure of fusion is as strong as ever.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut significant obstacles remain. They include the technical challenges of building reactors whose walls won\u2019t melt from the extreme heat inside, finding the best mixes of materials for fusion production and limiting irradiation of materials inside the reactor.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENew No. 1\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEuropean Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson took part in the inauguration of JT-60SA in Naka five months ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u20ac600 million reactor was built jointly by an EU organisation called Fusion for Energy, or F4E, and Japan\u2019s National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, also known as QST.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen it was declared active, JT-60SA claimed the title of largest tokamak from a 40-year-old facility in the UK called Joint European Torus, or JET.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJT-60SA will feature up to 41 megawatts of heating power compared with 38 MW for JET.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We turned the machine on and it works,\u2019 said Guy Phillips, head of unit for JT-60SA at F4E. \u2018We managed to produce the biggest volume of plasma ever in such a device, which is a great achievement. But this was just the first step and we still have a lot of work to do.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStepping stone\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJT-60SA will inform work on the next planned tokamak: ITER, the world\u2019s largest fusion experiment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDouble the size of JT-60SA, ITER is being built on a 180-hectare site in southern France.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EF4E manages Europe\u2019s contribution to ITER, which brings together 33 countries, as well as to JT-60SA, whose planned lifespan is around 20 years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith confirmation that JT-60SA\u2019s core systems work, the reactor will enter a planned shutdown for two to three years while an external heating-power system is added and other ones are upgraded.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When we start the next operational phase, we will then be able to go a lot further with plasma production and understanding different configurations,\u2019 said Phillips.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKnowledge build-up\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EContinuity is a strong feature of fusion research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EWe need everybody to work together.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Ambrogio Fasoli, EUROfusion\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore turning their attention to JT-60SA, EUROfusion researchers worked on JET.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat facility broke its own record for the largest amount of energy produced by a fusion-energy reactor before the final experiments were carried out there and it was shut down in December 2023.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeasuring 69 megajoules in a 5.2-second burst, the energy was estimated to be enough to power 12 000 homes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The fusion energy record at JET is an incredibly strong reminder of how well we now master fusion reactions on Earth,\u2019 said Fasoli.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EView ahead\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGiven the importance of know-how in the field, both EUROfusion and F4E run programmes to get future generations of scientists interested and trained in fusion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo factors holding back interest in fusion by some young researchers are a lack of immediate results in the field and an indirect \u2013 as well as unjustified \u2013 stigma linked to nuclear fission, according to Fasoli.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This is a transgenerational effort,\u2019 he said. \u2018There\u2019s a need for education, training and structures that can keep people who are interested.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEuropean Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova said at a March 2024 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu\/news\/all-research-and-innovation-news\/european-high-level-roundtable-fusion-energy-calls-closer-collaboration-between-public-and-private-2024-03-14_en\u0022\u003Eevent\u003C\/a\u003E with industry representatives that collaboration between private and public entities in the field of fusion is essential to accelerate the demonstration of fusion-electricity generation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe goal is to involve bigger industrial stakeholders as well as startups in the transition from laboratory to fabrication \u2013 so-called lab to fab.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat means combining the private sector\u2019s entrepreneurship and industrial capability with the ambition and realism of the public sector, according to Fasoli.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe said that fusion energy could become a reality by the 2050s.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018As long as we all row in the same direction, I think that horizon is still reasonable,\u2019 Fasoli said. \u2018It means we need everybody to work together.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EResearch in this article was funded by the EU\u2019s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWatch the video\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe allow=\u0022accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\u0022 allowfullscreen=\u0022\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022 height=\u0022315\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/europa.eu\/webtools\/crs\/iframe\/?oriurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FnBOqTvNHey4\u0022 title=\u0022YouTube video player\u0022 width=\u0022560\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-tgruwotsp3y9ppaeajjtkhtmriw0m8luhnvbmrp-gzu\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-TGrUWOTSP3y9pPAeAJjtKHtMRIw0M8LuHnVbmRp_GZU\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]