Conference

Please note the following dates for your diary:

08 January – 22 February 2024

Abstract Submission

26 April 2024

Acceptance of abstract

29 April 2024

Registrations open (virtual participation)

29 April 2024

Registrations open (on-site participation)

02 August 2024

Early registration

23 August 2024

Late registration

General Reviews for DEMO, Power Plants and Plant Systems

General DEMO reviews and general concepts
Integrated design activities and related R&D
Balance of plant and thermodynamic cycles
Fusion power plant systems

Experimental Devices and Facilities for Fusion Research

Integrated description of experimental devices and facilities for fusion research (contributions on specific matters should be presented under the related topics)
General results from experimental devices
- Integrated experimental results from fusion devices
- Integration and feasibility issues for Long Pulse Operation

Plasma Heating and Current Drive

Systems and technologies for plasma heating, sustaining and control of plasma current
Power transmission and coupling to the plasma
Interaction with plasma edge

Plasma Engineering, Plasma Control, and CODAC

Plasma scenarios and integrated plasma control
Disruption mitigation and instabilities control
Plasma control systems
Control, Data Acquisition, and Communication Systems
Remote participation

Diagnostics

Design, construction, commissioning, and exploitation of diagnostic equipment at facilities for fusion research

Magnets, Cryogenics and Electrical Systems

Research and development of magnets for fusion facilities
High-temperature superconductors technology
Magnet cooling systems
High Voltage technologies, electrical insulation and fault prevention
Power supply systems for magnets and heating and current drives
Electrical power systems
Electrical technologies

Plasma-Facing Components

First Wall, with particular emphasis on divertor, limiters, high flux protection structures
High heat flux removal methods
Related development of high heat flux materials
ITER Shielding Blanket

Vessel/in-vessel Engineering and Remote Handling

Core systems engineering
Vessel design
Integration of in-vessel and ex-vessel components
Remote handling

Fuel Cycle and Breeding Blankets

Development of the fuel cycle (inner and outer cycle, fueling, vacuum pumping technology, tritium transport analysis).
Design, analyses (thermo-hydraulics, neutronic, structural, etc.) and R&D of Breeding Blanket Systems (incl. Test Blanket Modules and Systems in ITER)
Related components and materials (i.e. breeders, neutron multipliers)

Materials Technology

Structural materials and functional coatings
Technology of producing and testing of materials
Material modelling
Design rules and standards, including neutron effects, etc.

Safety and Environment, Socio-economic studies and Technology Transfer

Safety and environmental issues of fusion power plant and fusion facilities
Socio-economic impact of fusion development
Role of fusion in future carbon-free energy mix
Transfer of technology and spin-offs created by fusion-related research
Waste management
Regulation and licensing

Non-magnetic fusion technologies

Laser fusion and alternative proposals

Download Programme Booklet

Download Programme Overview

The Helix

The Helix DCU is a unique conference and event venue in North Dublin, located at Dublin City University.

Get directions:

Information on how to get to The Helix can be found here.

Ali Benmoussa

European Commission, Belgium

Barbara Bolger

Conference Secretary, DCU

Beatriz Branas

CIEMAT, Spain

Sandra Clarke

Fáilte Ireland

Christian Day

KIT, Germany

Renaud Dejarnac

IPP, Czech Republic

Sean Duke

Comms and Marketing, DCU

Jennifer Egan

Chair LOC, DCU

Ursel Fantz

IPP, Germany

Walter Fietz

KIT, Germany

Elena Gaio

CNR Consorzio RFX, Italy

Sarah Hayes

Conference Secretary, LOC, DCU

Martin Hron

IPP, Czech Republic

Angel Ibarra

CIEMAT, Spain

Regina Knitter

KIT, Germany

Eliza Koslinski

Conference Secretary, DCU

Marie Leahy

Comms and Marketing, DCU

Christian Linsmeier

FZJ, Germany

Philippe Moreau

CEA, France

Deborah O’Connell

Co-chair and Director of NCSPT, DCU

Adela Sotelo Tiebo

Dublin City University

Tonči Tadić

RBI, Croatia

Angelo Tuccillo

ENEA, Italy

Miles Turner

Chair

DCU, Ireland

Miles Turner

Co-chair LOC and Head IOC, DCU

Dr. Mu-Young Ahn

Korea Institute of Fusion Energy - Head of Fuel System Research

Dr. Jean Paul Allain

Associate Director, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences

Pietro Barabaschi

Director General ITER

Prof Rob Buckingham OBE FREng

Executive Director, UK Atomic Energy Authority

Jan Willem Coenen

Forschungszentrum Julich

Samuele Dal Bello

Consorzio RFX

Rui Ding

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Annika Ekedahl

CEA, Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research

Joelle Elbez-Uzan

Euro-Fusion

Benjamin Ell

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Ambrogio Fasoli

EUROfusion

Gianfranco Federici

EUROfusion

Sehila Gonzalez de Vicente

Global Director, Fusion Energy

Lu Kun

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Kieran McCarthy

National Fusion Laboratory CIEMAT

Dr. Ashwini Kumar Mishra

Researcher Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany

Vincenzo Narcisi

PhD - C.R. ENEA Frascati

Simon Niemes

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Dr. Richard Pearson

Chief Innovator and UK Director at Kyoto Fusioneering

Cara Philippe

F4E DONES

Gian Mario Polli

Divertor Tokamak Test facility, DTT S.c.a r.l.

Klaus Schmid

IPP Garching

Hong Shen

ITER

Hiroshi Shirai

Japanese Fusion Programme

Tamás Szepesi

Physicist - Fusion Plasma Physics Department

Michael Tobin

Xcimer Energy

Simonetta Turtu

Project Leader of DTT Poloidal Field Coils Magnet ENEA

Dr. Rosaria Villari

Responsible of the Neutronics calculations group in the FUSEN TEN laboratory at ENEA NUClear Department (Frascati, ITALY

Petr Vondracekp

Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Ann Vu

ITER

Felix Warmer

Eindhoven University of Technology

Dr. Marco Wischmeier

Task Force Leader for the Work Package Tokamak Exploitation at EUROfusion

Dirk Wuenderlich

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

Irene Zammuto

Group Leader - ASDEX Upgrade Maintenance and Enhancement - Max Planck Institut für Plasmaphysik

The SOFT Innovation Prize Award Ceremony will take place in the Mahony Hall in the Helix, DCU, on Wednesday 25 September 2024.

Welcome Reception:

Date Monday, 23 September 2024
Time: 19:30 – 21:30
Place: Croke Park Stadium. Croke Park is the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Further information can be viewed HERE.
Transport: Coach transfer available from the SOFT venue to Croke Park. Return transfers available to 3 various locations in Dublin (DCU, South Dublin City, North Dublin City).
Admission: Free transport and access for all registered participants, accompanying persons and exhibitors.

Walking Tour Glasnevin Cemetery:

Date Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Time: 15:00 – 17:30
Place: Glasnevin Cemetery. Ireland’s National Cemetery – From poets and presidents, singers and suffragettes, the ordinary and the extraordinary – the stories of those who shaped our nation’s history. Further information can be viewed HERE.
Transport: Coach transfer available from the SOFT venue to Glasnevin Cemetery.
Admission: Free transport to Glasnevin Cemetery and access for all registered participants, accompanying persons and exhibitors. Please note that there is no return coach transfer from Glasnevin Cemetery. It is recommended that delegates use public transport for travelling around Dublin after the tour has ended.

Social Dinner:

Date Thursday, 26 September 2024
Time: 20:00 – 23:00
Place: The Guinness Storehouse – The home of Ireland’s most iconic beer. Further information can be viewed HERE.
Transport: Coach transfer available from the SOFT venue to Guinness Storehouse. Return transfers available to 3 various locations in Dublin (DCU, South Dublin City, North Dublin City).
Admission: Free transport and access for all registered participants, accompanying persons and exhibitors.

INDUSTRIAL SESSION (14:30 – 18:30)

The Gallery, Floor 3, Helix, DCU

13:30-14:30	Registration
14:30-14:40	Welcome & Introduction, Miles Turner, Chair, SOFT 2024
14:40-15:20	Ambrogio Fasoli, EUROfusion Programme Manager IS.1
15:20-16:00	Mack Stanley, Head of the ITER Procurement Division IS.2
16:00-16:30	Coffee Break
16:30-17:10	Lorenzo Capisani, European Commission IS.3
17:10-18:30	Private meetings and consulting for companies present on-site

Monday 23 September

28th IEA Subtask1 Review Meeting on Solid Breeder Blanket

Room: Nano Research Facility (NRF) seminar room, DCU campus (building 25 DCU campus map)

Date: 23 September 2024

Time: 11:00 -13:00

Description: This meeting will review the progress of solid breeder blanket design and R&Ds conducted by Participating Parties of IEA Technology Collaboration Programme on Nuclear Technology of Fusion Reactors Implementing Agreement, and to discuss future plans and collaborations within the framework.

Attendance is by invitation only.

International Workshop on Fusion Neutronics

under IEA Technology Collaboration Programme on Nuclear Technology of Fusion Reactors Implementing Agreement (NTFR IA)

Room: The Gallery room, third floor, Helix, DCU

Date: 23 September 2024

Time: 14:15-17:45

AGENDA

Chairs R. Villari (ENEA) Time Topic Presenter

14:15-14:25 Welcome & Scope of the Meeting Rosaria Villari

Summary reports of each party

Country Title

14:25-14:50 Japan Neutronics activities in Japan Kentaro Ochiai

14:50-15:15 USA Neutronics activities in US Ethan Peterson

15:15-15:40 China Neutronics activities in China Qi Yang

15:40-16:05 Korea Neutronics activities in Korea Seong-Hee Hong

16:05-16:25 Break

16:25-16:45 EU Neutronics activities in EU at ENEA Fabio Moro

16:45-17:05 Neutronics activities in EU at KIT Yuefeng Qiu

17:05-17:25 UK Neutronics activities in UK Lee Packer

17:25-17:45 F4E Neutronics activities Davide Laghi

17:45 Adjourn

Information: The scope of the workshop is to report the progress on neutronics experiments, code development, nuclear data and nuclear design analysis carried out in China, EU, UK, Japan, Korea and US in the frame of the IEA Technology Collaboration Programme on Nuclear Technology of Fusion Reactors Implementing Agreement (NTFR IA) and to discuss further activities and collaborations on issues relevant to fusion neutronics.

This workshop is open to all SOFT participants.

Organiser: Rosaria Villari, ENEA, Email: mailto:rosaria.villari@enea.it

Tuesday 24 September

FDS Workshop for SuperMC/TopMC Multi-functional Calculation Program for Nuclear Design and Safety Evaluation

Room: The Gallery room, third floor, Helix, DCU

Date: Tuesday 24 September

Time: 09:00 – 11:00

Number of participants: 30+

The new version of TopMC (Multi-functional Program for Neutronics Calculation, Nuclear Design
and Safety Evaluation, updated and extended version of SuperMC) is coming and will be released
in the workshop. The workshop will also invite renowned experts and users to share their
experiences in using the software. All the workshop's participants can get a powerful
professional version of TopMC for free.
TopMC has been widely used in more than 1000 well-known nuclear-related institutions in
energy, healthcare, industry, in more than 90 countries. TopMC can be used for the design and
safety evaluation of nuclear energy systems, as well as nuclear technology application fields
including radiation medicine, nuclear detection and so on.
Welcome to TopMC/SuperMC workshop.

More information can be found on http://www.fds.org.cn/en/#/
This workshop is open to all SOFT participants.
Organiser: Qi Yang, Email: mailto:qi.yang@fds.org.cn

This workshop is open to all SOFT participants.

Organiser: Qi Yang, Email: mailto:qi.yang@fds.org.cn

FDS Brochure

DIGILab Lunch Workshop:

Unlocking the Power of Explainable AI in Fusion Energy Development

Room: The Gallery room, third floor, Helix, DCU

Date: Tuesday 24 September

Time: 12:30 – 14:00

Number of participants: 50+

This workshop is open to all SOFT participants.

Brief description:

Join us for a hands-on workshop where you’ll discover how AI can revolutionize the future of fusion energy. Whether you’re new to AI or simply curious about its potential, this session is designed to be accessible and engaging.

We’ll guide you through using AI to tackle complex challenges in fusion energy, even with limited data.

We’ll dive into a practical example using twinLab, a user-friendly tool, to apply these AI methods in real-time. You’ll work on a tritium desorption scenario, where you’ll see AI in action—predicting unseen scenarios and providing confidence bounds on those predictions.

This workshop is perfect for anyone interested in the intersection of AI and fusion energy, with no prior experience required.

Contact details: ross@digilab.co.uk

IEA Fusion Materials group meeting

Room: Nano Research Facility (NRF) seminar room, DCU campus (building 25 DCU campus map)

Date: Tuesday 24 September

Time: 13:00-15:00

This meeting is by invite only.

For further information please email mailto:dmitry.terentyev@sckcen.be

Nuclear fusion: Talking about what’s beyond the Science

Science, Technology and Society Research Group Workshop:

Room: GG28, Life Sciences Institute (G), DCU (building 24 on DCU camps map)

Date: Tuesday 24 September

Time: 14:30-16:00

Information: What does it mean for fusion ‘to become available’? How long is the period between a prototype technically able to produce electricity and the moment fusion becomes an energy technology option ‘among the other options’? How would the path between those moments look, and what is the role of the research community in it once industry and commercial interests start to take the lead in fusion development? How should one respond to the critical statement that, in face of the urgent challenge to combat climate change, fusion ‘will come too late’? …

The ultimate goal of the event is to launch a meaningful dialogue related to these questions within the fusion research community rather than to come to consensus on the correct answers. The event also offers the opportunity to contribute to socio- economic research reflecting and discussing these and other relevant questions in relation to nuclear fusion and the current socio-economic, climate and energy context.

This topic for a SOFT2024 satellite event is proposed by the EUROfusion research team on Socio Economic Studies (SES) as part of a multi-year project aimed at gathering expert’s views, positions, opinions, attitudes on fusion technology and fusion research.

This workshop is open to all SOFT participants.

Gauss Fusion GmbH Workshop

Room: The Theatre, Helix

Date: Tuesday 24 September

Time: 18:00 – 18:30 (Reception)

18:30 – 19:30 (Workshop)

Gauss Fusion’s mission is to accelerate the industrialisation of fusion energy, to make it scalable and to turn it into a reality in Europe. The green energy company was founded in 2022 by private industrial companies from France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Gauss Fusion is actively engaged in the pursuit of industrializing and commercializing fusion energy, based on an approach aimed at minimising both technology development risk and the timescale to commercial fusion.

As one of the first stages of this process an internal scientific study was recently concluded, leading to the decision to adopt the stellarator as the core device for Gauss Fusion Power Plant (FPP). The primary outcomes of this study will be discussed, including considerations that highlight the inherent advantages of the stellarator, such as steady-state operation and cost-effective functionality relevant to power plants, as well as general insights and progress on optimizing stellarator design.

This contribution presents a unique, integrated, staged approach to the Fusion Power Plant (FPP): by incrementally upgrading the power plant facility, construction risks can be minimized, the licensing process expedited, and findings from materials and blanket research seamlessly integrated. Key technical highlights will include the development of enabling fusion technologies for a modular approach, specifically the design and manufacturing of demountable coils and the choice of a helium cooled pebble bed as tritium breeding blanket.

The presentation will also emphasize Gauss Fusion’s industrial roots and connections, providing insight into the company’s unique trajectory toward developing our Fusion Power Plant and establishing commercial fusion in Europe.

This workshop is open all SOFT participants.

For catering purposes please register your interest by email: mailto:giulia.bonvissuto@gauss-fusion.com