U.S. Department of Energy Awards UC San Diego $1.35 Million for Fusion Research
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Fusion researchers at the University of California San Diego received $1.35 million from DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. Known as a Creating Hardened And Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge, or CHADWICK, award, the funds will allow researchers to open to teams outside of the university a facility that mimics the conditions occurring at the wall of a fusion reactor when it is running.
The conditions are extreme: Fusion occurs when two types of hydrogen atoms, deuterium and tritium, collide and literally fuse into one atom at temperatures of 100 million degrees centigrade, or about 180 million degrees Fahrenheit — 10 times hotter than the core of the Sun. Fusion reactor materials also become irradiated as they are bombarded with highly energetic particles expelled by the fusion of these two atoms.
The work will take place at the PISCES facility at UC San Diego, which is supported by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. The PISCES research team studies how plasmas found in fusion energy systems interact with the material walls of plasma confinement devices. The researchers use state-of-the art facilities and diagnostic techniques to assess the performance and longevity of the plasma-facing materials. This research is critical to the success of both US and International fusion efforts aimed at producing fusion energy systems.
The CHADWICK program at the PISCES facility will be led by Dr. Matthew Baldwin, a researcher in the UC San Diego Center of Energy Research. During the program, the PISCES facility will offer a range of plasma-materials interactions services to material development teams. The facility will help teams test how new materials will react to the plasma and irradiation environment expected in a fusion power plant.
Read the ARPA-E press release:
The PISCES facility generates and studies how plasmas found in fusion energy systems interact with the material walls of plasma confinement devices.
Photo: David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
Photo: David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
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