PSFC Seminars

Seminars are currently being held as hybrid events. 
For further information & zoom link: info@psfc.mit.edu
PSFC address: NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge

Dec 8, 2017

The Advanced Tokamak Path to a compact fusion pilot plant

Richard Buttery

General Atomics

Studies show that well targeted research in the coming years could validate these concepts to provide the basis to proceed with a compact Advanced Tokamak power plant. This talk will set out the key physics and hardware considerations behind its design.

3:00pm  |  NW17-218

Dec 1, 2017

Electrochemistry in the molten state: from sustainable metal extraction to materials fundamentals

Antoine Allanore

MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering

This seminar offers to report electrochemical studies of a subset of molten oxide and sulfide systems. Our results show that the molten state offers unique functionalities (enhanced mass transport, high conductivity, electronic conductivity, thermoelectric power) and that electrochemistry is uniquely positioned to probe the structure and physical chemistry of those systems. In addition, our results provide valuable thermodynamic information, and our experimental developments suggest a faster path to experimental data, along with an improvement in the prediction and modeling capacity of the molten state.

3:00pm  |  NW17-218

Oct 20, 2017

First results from divertor operation in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

Thomas Sunn Pedersen

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

This talk will introduce the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator, a highly optimized stellarator experiment that went into operation in 2015. With a 30 cubic meter volume, a superconducting coil system operating at 2.5 T, and steady-state heating capability of eventually up to 10 MW, it was built to demonstrate the benefits of optimized stellarators at parameters approaching those of a fusion power plant. 

3:00pm  |  NW17-218

Oct 19, 2017

Alfvén eigenmode studies on JET

Valentin Aslanyan

MIT

Experiments to probe AEs with a resonant magnetic field have been undertaken on JET for 20 years. An upgrade to the AE active diagnostic (AEAD) antennas has recently been completed with the aim of measuring the modes' damping rates in upcoming DT experiments. The frequency range of the diagnostic has been extended downwards allowing detection of Beta (Acoustic) AEs and Geodesic Acoustic Modes, whose understanding is increasingly seen as important to future machines.

11:00am  |  NW17-

Oct 13, 2017

Taming the plasma-material interface in plasma-burning nuclear fusion reactors

Jean Paul Allain

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This talk will focus on outlining both the challenges and promises of PMI research in nuclear fusion today and the prospects for possible solutions for future plasma-burning fusion reactors.  The talk will in part summarize the recent DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Workshop on Plasma-Material Interactions and also highlight some of the recent work in Prof. Allain’s RSSEL group at UIUC.

3:00pm  |  NW17-218

Oct 4, 2017

The impact of divertor conditions on SOL density profile at the JET tokamak

Bruce Lipschultz

York University

The low temperature boundary layer plasma (Scrape-Off-Layer or SOL) between the hot core and the surrounding vessel determines the level of power loading and erosion and implantation of material surfaces, and thus the viability of tokamak-based fusion as an energy source. This study using the JET tokamak explores several mechanisms affecting the formation of flattened density profiles, the so-called density shoulders, in the low-field side (LFS) SOL.

3:00pm  |  NW17-281

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