Last week Daniel Andruczyk, Brady Moore, and Kenta Kawashimo attended the 6th US-Japan Workshop on “Power and Particle Control in a Steady-State Magnetic Fusion DEMO Reactor by Liquid Metal Plasma Facing Components” which was hosted at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) in Toki Japan. The conference was held from February 18th – 20th.
This is a small but very targeted conference on using liquid metals in the next demonstration fusion power plants. There were excellent presentations and fruitful discussions between participants across 10 institutions, including national laboratories, universities, and private companies. Several of the US participants were from institutions that are part of the FIRE collaborative (PPPL, Penn State) which is tasked with advancing the maturity of liquid metal plasma facing components and technology.
One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to visit and go inside the Large Helical Device (LHD), which was one of the world’s premiere fusion devices. The machine now has ceased operation allowing for the opportunity to go inside.
The next installment of this conference will be hosted at UIUC by the Center for Plasma Material Interactions (CPMI) and the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) where we hope to show off the world class liquid metal facilities we have here and also our own toroidal device, HIDRA.
A big thank you to our hosts at NIFS and Dr. Suguru Masuzaki, who organized and hosted a wonderful conference.
