NextGen Fusion Collaborations

The NextGen Fusion Collaborations project coordinates the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP)'s collaborations with both large international tokamak facilities and companies in the emerging fusion industry in Germany and the United States.

 

As part of NextGen Fusion Collaborations, the IPP is involved in the further development of the tokamak line through contributions to

• the scientific evaluation of experiments at the now decommissioned European fusion facility JET in the United Kingdom,
• technology development, operational preparation and support for the Japanese-European tokamak JT-60SA in Japan,
• technology development and operational preparation of the international fusion facility ITER, which is currently being built in southern France,
• support the DTT facility currently under construction in Italy,
• cooperation with the SPARC tokamak currently under construction by the US company Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

In addition, NextGen Fusion Collaborations includes cooperation with the German start-ups Gauss Fusion and Proxima Fusion, which are working on the further development of the stellarator line with a view to a reactor-compatible design.

The aim of the cooperation with Tokamaks is to actively shape the scientific programme of these facilities and to participate in both scientific and technical operations. The IPP contributes in particular the findings and methods of plasma control developed at the Tokamak ASDEX Upgrade and tests their applicability to other machines in order to adapt these concepts for use in future fusion reactors. This applies in particular to SPARC, a facility of comparable size to ASDEX Upgrade, but with a significantly higher magnetic field strength.

IPP specialists are developing new technologies (heating methods, plasma diagnostics, control systems) for the operation of JT-60SA and ITER.

IPP representatives participate in committees and networks that are tasked with defining the details of future international cooperation on JT-60SA and ITER in order to represent the interests of the IPP.

The IPP's European cooperation with other European tokamak facilities in the size class of ASDEX Upgrade and below is not part of NextGen Fusion Collaborations. This cooperation is organised in a work package of EUROfusion (WPTE).

External partners in the NextGen Fusion Collaborations project are:

• the EUROfusion consortium, primarily with the work packages WPSA, WPPrIO, WPTE and WPDIV
• Fusion for Energy (F4E, the European Union institution responsible for the EU's contribution to ITER)
• ITER Organisation (ITER IO)
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems
• Gauss Fusion
• Proxima Fusion