Participation in the IAEA conference on fusion

The key contribution of the CRPP, a presentation given by Dr S. Coda, consisted in an overview of the main results obtained on the TCV tokamak during the last 2 years. He showed for instance how instabilities occurring near the edge of the plasma, considered to be one of the most important questions for the operation of tokamaks, can be reduced when microwaves are injected close to the plasma surface. Such a reduction could be crucial for ITER. Moreover, he dissected the advantages of the "snowflake" configuration, a world premiere achieved on TCV and now taken over by several groups around the world. Dr Coda also mentioned various successes obtained thanks to the real-time control system implemented on TCV.

The other participants of the CRPP presented more specific results about fusion plasma theory or experiments carried out at the CRPP: three-dimensional configurations, studies of fundamental aspects of turbulence, real-time control of various plasma parameters, simulations for the future ITER device, material development, tests of superconducting coils. The impact of the CRPP contributions was emphasized by a significant presence in the summary talks at the closure of the conference.

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in collaboration with a laboratory of the hosting country organizes this biennial conference, which gives the opportunity to about 1000 researchers from the entire world to share their discoveries. It was held from 8 till 13 October 2012 in San Diego (USA), while the 3 previous editions were organized in Daejon (South Korea, 2010), Geneva (Switzerland, 2008) and Chengdu (China, 2006). The next conference will take place in St. Petersburg (Russia) in autumn 2014.