Annual report of National Institute for Fusion Science. April 2016 - March 2017

This annual report summarizes achievements of research activities concerning the fusion research at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) from April 2016 to March 2017. NIFS is an inter-university research organization, which conducts collaboration research programs under three frameworks, that is, General Collaboration Research, Large Helical Device (LHD) Collaboration Research and Bilateral Collaboration Research. More than 500 collaborating research themes were proposed by collaborators in universities or institutes across the country. Proposals from abroad are also included. With comprehensive studies on fusion science, NIFS emphasizes its roles as an inter-university organization as well as a Center of Excellence in the development of human resources, pouring energy into education for graduate students who will realize the generation of fusion power in the future. Such an advanced education is performed mainly through the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI). In addition, graduate students from partner universities across the nation are also accepted. In order to promote the scientific and engineering research towards the realization of fusion energy, NIFS conducts three major projects. These are the Large Helical Device Project, the Numerical Simulation Reactor Research Project, and the Fusion Engineering Research Project. These three pillars stimulate each other and accelerate development of the first fusion demo reactor (DEMO). NIFS also supports interdisciplinary and basic research, and promotes the coordinated research for ITER-BA cooperation, laser cooperation, and academic-industrial cooperation. (J.P.N.)