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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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February 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Fermilab center renamed after late particle physicist Helen Edwards
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Integrated Engineering Research Center, which officially opened in January 2024, is now known as the Helen Edwards Engineering Center. The name was changed to honor the late particle physicist who led the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the lab’s Tevatron accelerator and was part of the Water Resources Development Act signed by President Biden in December 2024, according to a Fermilab press release.
Alan S. Binus, Yijun Lin, Stephen J. Wukitch, Andrew Pfeiffer, David Gwinn
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 977-982
Plasma Engineering | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A9037
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A real-time ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) antenna matching system has been successfully implemented on Alcator C-Mod. A triple-stub tuning system working at 80 MHz is used, where one stub acts as a pre-matching stub and the other two stubs incorporate fast ferrite tuners (FFT) to realize fast tuning. It uses a computer based digital controller for feedback control (200 uS per iteration) using real-time antenna loading measurements as inputs and the coil currents to the FFT magnets as outputs. The system has obtained and maintained matching for a large range of plasma parameters, including L-mode, H-mode, and plasmas with edge localized modes, and up to 1.8 MW net RF power into H-mode plasma. The RF power loss in the system has been found to be insignificant when the voltage in the system is below 30 kV. Achieving this level of performance involved several engineering challenges. The ferrite tuners available had to be used in their received configuration and their implementation would accommodate the existing characteristics of the tuners. A suitable range of load matching, operational speed, component protection and thermal management were factors that had to be balanced against tuner characteristics, system complexity and cost containment. The FFTs are permanently operational on Alcator C-Mod.