Fusion energy is a promising option for our future energy supply as recently read in extensive articles in De Tijd and L’Echo. It is then nice to know that researchers at the RMA Plasma Physics Laboratory contribute crucially to international nuclear fusion research.
In recent years, nuclear fusion research has made significant progress, as demonstrated by recent record fusion experiments at the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK. Belgian researchers at the RMA Plasma Physics Laboratory (LPP-ERM/KMS) played a crucial role in these experiments. They further optimised the heating system, in which they have global expertise, which allowed a serious increase in the number of fusion reactions.
The LPP-ERM/KMS collaborates intensely with several nuclear fusion laboratories around the globe. Under the leadership of Research Director Jef Ongena, it successfully developed a heating system - called 'Ion Cyclotron Resonant Heating' or 'ICRH' for short - which was integrated into the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator at Germany's Max-Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald by the end of 2021. A specially developed antenna (Fig. 1) thereby sends radio waves into the reaction mixture, causing it to heat up further. In the process, two of the most powerful radio transmitters in the world are used, with powers of up to 2 megawatt (Fig. 2). An impedance matching system links these powerful radio transmitters to the antenna in the Wendelstein 7-X fusion machine (Fig. 3). The belgian heating system has been operational since 2023 and has undergone a complete upgrade prior to the new series of experiments planned for the 2024-2025 period, with the aim of further improving its performance.
Globally, fusion research is accelerating, with private companies such as the US-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) investing in innovative high-temperature superconducting magnetic coils operating at much higher magnetic fields. This should lead to even higher energy yields from fusion reactions than existing machines. Governments, such as the UK and Germany, are investing significant resources in their national fusion research programmes ...
Fusion research is a major challenge that can only succeed with a collaborative approach. The realisation of a fusion reactor supplying power to the grid by 2050 would already be a solid achievement and fusion researchers are working day and night to make this happen. Whether this can indeed be ready by 2050 depends mainly on the efforts of the new generation of young researchers. We wish them every success in making this crucial option for the energy transition a reality.
