27th fusion energy conference begins in Gandhinagar on Oct 22

Innovative concepts on using nuclear fusion as a source of energy are likely to be discussed at the 27th Fusion Energy Conference beginning in Gandhinagar Monday.

The six-day event is organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and hosted by the Department of Atomic Energy and Gandhinagar-based Institute of Plasma Research.

"The 27th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2018) aims to provide a forum for the discussion of key physics and technology issues as well as innovative concepts of direct relevance to the use of nuclear fusion as a source of energy," the IAEA said on its website.

Experts from across the world will discuss the new challenges being faced by the fusion community in the light of a number of next-step fusion devices being implemented currently, it said.

 

Among the participants are international bodies like the ITER Organisation and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The research institutes involved in developing smaller plasma devices will also participate in the conference.

"The conference will serve to identify possibilities and means for continuous and effective international collaboration in this area," it said.

Scientists across the world are collaborating to use nuclear fusion, the reaction that powers the Sun and the stars, as a source energy, it said.

Scientists from different countries collaborate to develop next-step fusion devices such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Cadarache, France, and the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Greifswald, Germany, it said.

"The conference aims to serve as a platform for sharing the results of research and development efforts in both national and international fusion experiments that have been shaped by these new priorities, and to thereby help in pinpointing worldwide advances in fusion theory, experiments, technology, engineering, safety and socio-economics," the IAEA further said.

The conference will also set these results against the backdrop of the requirements for a net energy producing fusion device and a fusion power plant in general, and will thus help in defining the way forward, it said.