Fusion data science
ITER and future fusion reactors will be very complex machines that will rely heavily on advanced measurement and control systems. The first research pillar of the group concerns the development of Bayesian probabilistic methods and machine learning, with a host of different applications to the physics and technology of fusion devices. We use state-of-the-art techniques for the development of fusion digital twins, for data integration and sensor fusion, predictive maintenance, modeling stochastic plasma phenomena, analyzing complex data patterns and for uncertainty propagation studies. This research combines two of the greatest challenges of our time: sustainable energy production and data science.
Fusion modeling
The second research pillar of the group concerns the modeling of the complex physics involved in fusion plasmas and fusion technology. We are developing our own Vlasov-Maxwell code for investigating the physics of plasmas in the very edge of fusion devices, called the scrape-off-layer, where other types of code (particle-in-cell) suffer from statistical error due to undersampling in velocity space. In contrast, kinetic codes solve for the entire distribution function in phase space, eliminating this statistical error, but they are computationally very costly. We are therefore using adaptive mesh refinement, changing the mesh resolution during runtime, to speed up the calculations.
In addition, we use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) codes for modeling the flow of liquid metals in blanket components for future devices.
Why fusion?
Nuclear fusion reactions involve the fusing of light elements (such as hydrogen) to form heavier ones (such as helium). Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the stars, transforming mass into energy according to Einstein's formula E = mc2.
The worldwide research on controlled thermonuclear fusion aims to realize fusion on earth, as a means to produce energy in a way that is both clean and safe. Fusion produces no greenhouse gases, no toxic or long-lived radioactive waste (only the reactor structure becomes slightly activated after a while) and neither is there any danger of major nuclear accidents like Tsjernobyl or Fukushima. Fusion is one of the few options available for sustainable energy production, to counter global warming and yet meet the steadily increasing energy demands of the 21st century. Contrary to solar and wind energy, fusion has the potential to provide large and local sources of continuous base-load power everywhere in the world.
Through the European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy (EUROfusion), the European Union maintains an ambitious research program targeted at realizing fusion electricity within the coming decades. At the same time, private investment in fusion startups is booming. The main focus of the worldwide fusion research is on magnetic confinement fusion, in particular the tokamak concept, whereby the fusion reactions take place in a hot plasma confined by strong magnetic fields. In collaboration with fusion research centers all over the world, this is presently culminating in the ongoing construction of the international fusion device ITER at the Cadarache site near Aix-en-Provence in France, as well as the design of new fusion concepts and fusion reactors.
Inside view of the vacuum vessel of the JET tokamak. © EUROfusion
Plasma in the COMPASS tokamak. © IPP.CR
Nightfall over the ITER construction site. © ITER Organization
Our roots
At the UGent department of Applied Physics, the research unit Nuclear Fusion has been involved in fusion research since over forty years. Growing out of the long-standing expertise of the group in fusion diagnostics and experimentation on various fusion devices across Europe, the research presently concentrates on the rich area of fusion data science.