EUROfusion

Dec 16

🚀 The New Kid in the Control Room: AI meets fusion Artificial intelligence has officially entered the control room at Wendelstein 7-X, the world’s most advanced stellarator. During a recent experimental campaign, researchers Bartłomiej Jabłoński, MSc, and Prof. Dariusz Makowski from Łódź Universi...Read more

🚀 The New Kid in the Control Room: AI meets fusion Artificial intelligence has officially entered the control room at Wendelstein 7-X, the world’s most advanced stellarator. During a recent experimental campaign, researchers Bartłomiej Jabłoński, MSc, and Prof. Dariusz Makowski from Łódź University of Technology, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald, successfully tested a deep-learning system live during plasma operation. 🧠 What does the AI do? The system analyses infrared (IR) camera streams in real time to automatically detect, classify and segment thermal events on reactor surfaces. Within milliseconds, it can distinguish harmless temperature fluctuations from potentially damaging hotspots. This used to previously be a task that required painstaking manual inspection. ⚡ Why it matters Fusion devices operate at temperatures exceeding 100 million °C. As experiments move toward longer pulses and higher power human-only monitoring becomes impractical. Autonomous, AI-assisted protection systems are essential for safe, continuous operation. 📊 From data to real-time decisions Trained on a curated dataset from both stellarator and tokamak campaigns (including W7-X and WEST), the AI now processes hundreds of complex IR images per second, delivering instant alerts directly to the control room. 🌍 A milestone for future fusion power plants This pioneering deployment marks an important step toward intelligent, self-protecting fusion reactors. Beyond protecting today’s experiments, the system continuously expands a valuable dataset that future machines like ITER and DEMO can inherit. They also operate on long pulses. Monitoring those would be much more efficient with AI. As Prof. Makowski puts it: “Humans may need 30 minutes to analyse a sequence. The AI can warn us in real time.” Read more here: https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/ai-and-fusion-in-the-control-room/ 🔬 A new era of fusion monitoring has begun — and AI is now part of the team, altough continuously growing, fed by fusion data from across Europe. #FusionEnergy #ArtificialIntelligence #Wendelstein7X #EUROfusion #PlasmaPhysics #DeepLearning #ITER #DEMO #ResearchInnovation

Dec 15

🚀 Cutting Things to Fuse Them: KATANA in Action! Julijan Peric and his team are ramping up fusion research. At Ljubljana’s Jožef Stefan Institute, they built KATANA — a facility that safely generates neutron-activated water, giving ITER the precise data it needs for future fusion diagnostics. Juli...Read more

🚀 Cutting Things to Fuse Them: KATANA in Action! Julijan Peric and his team are ramping up fusion research. At Ljubljana’s Jožef Stefan Institute, they built KATANA — a facility that safely generates neutron-activated water, giving ITER the precise data it needs for future fusion diagnostics. Julijan’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed: he received the Fusion Engineering and Design Student Award at ISFNT, putting Slovenia firmly on the global fusion map. Their secret? Teamwork, creativity, and precision like the Japanese Sword Katana is named after. By simulating ITER’s neutron environment safely and independently, they’re testing, validating, and shaping the future of clean energy. 💡 Why it matters: • Stable, safe neutron source • Independent testing for ITER • Bridging theory and hands-on innovation This is what happens when smart minds collaborate — science moves forward, step by step, fusion by fusion. Get to know Julijan in our feature here⚡ https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/cutting-things-to-fuse-them/ #FusionEnergy #ITER #Innovation #Teamwork #KATANA #NuclearResearch #CleanEnergy

Nov 28

Europe’s fusion community has taken another major step toward designing a future Fusion Pilot Plant. The latest review of the DEMO Low Aspect Ratio (LAR) design brought together about 100 experts to evaluate progress across physics, systems integration, technology R&D, and engineering. External re...Read more

Europe’s fusion community has taken another major step toward designing a future Fusion Pilot Plant. The latest review of the DEMO Low Aspect Ratio (LAR) design brought together about 100 experts to evaluate progress across physics, systems integration, technology R&D, and engineering. External reviewers highlighted growing synergies between teams, strengthened design workflows, and the increasing maturity of Europe’s DEMO concept—key momentum on the Road2Fusion. 🔗 Read the full story: https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/reviewing-today-to-shape-tomorrow/ #FusionEnergy #EUROfusion #Road2Fusion #Engineering #PlasmaPhysics #EURATOM

Nov 27

EUROfusion and ASIPP have officially released the first joint Research Plan for the high-field BEST tokamak in Hefei, China 🌏⚡ This milestone marks the start of a structured, forward-looking collaboration to explore burning-plasma physics at Q > 5, support advanced DT operations, and prepare techn...Read more

EUROfusion and ASIPP have officially released the first joint Research Plan for the high-field BEST tokamak in Hefei, China 🌏⚡ This milestone marks the start of a structured, forward-looking collaboration to explore burning-plasma physics at Q > 5, support advanced DT operations, and prepare technologies essential for ITER and future pilot fusion power plants. With the BEST facility progressing rapidly toward first plasma in 2027, this joint plan sets the stage for coordinated research, shared experimental campaigns, and impactful scientific progress. 📄 EUROfusion Programme Manager Gianfranco Federici congratulated the ASIPP BEST team and our topical group coordinators for developing “a very important and ambitious joint research plan to advance burning plasma physics and supporting technologies.” 👉 Full story: https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/eurofusion-asipp-best-research-plan/ #FusionEnergy #EUROfusion #ScientificCollaboration #PlasmaPhysics #BurningPlasma #BESTtokamak #ASIPP #Road2Fusion #EURATOM

Nov 21

Over 120 EUROfusion scientists gathered at the Swiss Plasma Center 🇨🇭 to set research priorities for Europe’s fusion programme 🔬⚛️ The Work Package Tokamak Exploitation General Programme Meeting (Nov 4–6) defined scientific goals and coordinated future experiments on AUG, MAST-U, WEST & TCV — sh...Read more

Over 120 EUROfusion scientists gathered at the Swiss Plasma Center 🇨🇭 to set research priorities for Europe’s fusion programme 🔬⚛️ The Work Package Tokamak Exploitation General Programme Meeting (Nov 4–6) defined scientific goals and coordinated future experiments on AUG, MAST-U, WEST & TCV — shaping the path to fusion energy for the next two years. Find out more here: https://euro-fusion.org/eurofusion-news/ef-scientists-research-priorities/ 💡 The meeting also reviewed JET data and looked ahead to JT-60SA’s next campaign. #EUROfusion #FusionEnergy #PlasmaPhysics #ResearchCollaboration #Road2Fusion #CleanEnergy