Synthetic report 2012. Research programme on controlled thermonuclear fusion

Since 1961, Switzerland participates in the research on thermonuclear fusion thanks to the creation of the Research Centre in Plasma Physics. In 1979 it entered into partnership with the European programme on fusion through its adhesion to EURATOM. The thermonuclear fusion is an interesting energy source because the basic fuel is practically inexhaustible and its use does not release any significant CO2 quantity and very little radioactive residues. But its working up faces enormous physical and technological difficulties. The International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER), presently in construction, has to demonstrate the technological feasibility of the controlled fusion. Il will be followed by DEMO, foreseen for 2040-2050, which must guarantee the economical rentability. At CRPP the research projects are partitioned onto several sites: at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, they concern the physics of the magnetic confinement with the Variable Geometry Tokamak (TCV), the development of theoretical models and the numerical simulation, the plasma heating and the generation of hyper frequency waves; the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) studies the superconductivity and the materials; the interactions between the plasma and the Tokamak walls are studied at the Basel University for the structures of ITER. Thanks to its large flexibility, TCV allows the creation and the control of plasmas of very different forms. The injection system of millimetric waves allows orienting the injected power according to specific profiles. By using the asymmetry of the flow in the toroidal sense, the plasma rotation could be measured with a much better accuracy than before. In TCV, by playing on the form of the plasma, it was possible to strongly reduce the energy quantity which is expelled by the Edge Localized Modes (ELM) onto the wall of the vacuum chamber. The 'snowflake' configuration created in TCV allows distributing the ELM energy onto several impact points, what reduces the damages on the wall. The activity of the theory and numerical modelling group concerns the turbulence and the heat and particles transport in the tokamaks, the analysis of the equilibrium and the magneto-hydrodynamic stability, the application of radiofrequency (RF) waves and optimization of new configurations for the magnetic confinement. The numerical modelling necessitates using very powerful computers; it was applied to the turbulence in a plasma or ITER. The TORPEX machine, which is simpler than the tokamak, allows in situ measurements with high spatio-temporal resolution; the results are used for the qualification of the codes for the numerical modelling. The gyrotron group studies the millimetric RF sources used for the electron cyclotron (EC) heating and the system foreseen for ITER. The development of a new modelling code has been pursued. The materials of a fusion reactor are submitted to irradiation through high energy neutrons, what induces mechanical defects and nuclear transmutations. The 'Fusion Technology: Materials' group is devoted to the improvement of the mechanical properties of reduced activation steels. At PSI the 'Superconductivity' group has tested for ITER in the SULTAN installation conducting-wires for the spools of toroidal and poloidal field, for the central solenoid as well as for the correction spools. The EDIPO plant, which will be used in parallel with SULTAN, has been cooled to the temperature of liquid helium. The Basel University conducts research projects on the interaction between the plasma and the walls of ITER. Applying an argon RF plasma has allowed improving the reflectivity of mirrors used to measure the plasma in ITER