Novatron Fusion Group travelled to Salamanca, Spain for the 50th edition of the European Physical Society’s (EPS) Conference on Plasma Physics.
The annual event provides a pan-European perspective on progress across Plasma Physics – including Magnetic Confinement Fusion Plasma, Beam Plasmas & Inertial Fusion, Low Temperature and Dusty Plasmas, and Basic, Space & Astrophysical Plasmas.
In attendance were Novatron Fusion Group Chief Technology Officer Jan Jäderberg and NFG Research & Development Physicist Katarina Bendtz. During the event, Novatron Fusion Group presented a poster outlining the unique NOVATRON concept along with recent findings to be submitted to scientific journals. The poster raised considerable interest and opened up interesting discussions with researchers from Wendelstein, JET and EPFL Swiss Plasma Centre.
“Novatron was thrilled to meet with fellow members of the European Plasma Physics community. We had valuable discussions about the path to fusion energy with stakeholders from high-calibre fusion projects both publicly and privately funded. This included personnel working across large international projects and the energy industry at large, along with research consortia working in fusion.”
It comes as engineers at Novatron Fusion Group recently completed a complex multi-system integration project to create plasma, raising ambitions for the Nordics’ fusion energy sector. Read more here. The NOVATRON technology is the world’s only stable mirror-machine concept, offering a unique approach to plasma confinement.
Now in its second year of formal operation, Novatron Fusion Group is rapidly advancing construction work to launch the first official test facility – the Novatron 1 (N1) – later in 2024. In August 2023, Novatron Fusion Group secured €5million from a series of investors including Spain’s Santander InnoEnergy Climate Fund.
Key roundtable sessions at the Conference on Plasma Physics included Visions4Fusion held in the Palacio de Congresos de Salamanca, with major global players discussing the international political and business landscape for nuclear fusion technology.
Discussions included time scales for demonstration projects and the deployment of fusion, international collaboration, plus the strengths and weakness of public and private stakeholders. It further addressed relations between public and private sectors, collaboration, competition and intellectual property rights, as well as opportunities and academic education for the next generation of fusion scientists.
Moderated by Richard Buttery (Director, DIII-D National Fusion Facility) participants included Brandon Sorbom, Chief Science Officer and Co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion systems, Günter kraft, Chief Communication and Government Relation, Focused Energy Inc, Ambrogio Fasoli, CEO of EUROfusion, Lauren Masse, Target Design and GenF Scientific Advisor, CEA, Alberto Loarte, Head of Science Division at ITER, Andrew Harrison, Director of Science, ELI-ERIC and Ana Belén del Cerro Gordo, Spanish Industrial Liaison Officer of CDTI (CDTI – Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades).
The European Physical Society (EPS) is a not-for-profit association whose members include 42 National Physical Societies in Europe, individuals from all fields of physics, and European research institutions.
As a learned society, the EPS engages in activities that strengthen ties among the physicists in Europe. As a federation of National Physical Societies, the EPS studies issues of concern to all European countries relating to physics research, science policy and education.