The 29th edition of the Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT 2016) will be held in Prague, from the 5th to 9th of September 2016 in the Prague Congress Centre.
The event is organized jointly by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of
Sciences (CAS) and the Research Centre Řež, two main institutes engaged in the research of
thermonuclear fusion and fusion technologies in the Czech Republic. „
The biennial Symposium on Fusion Technology is the leading conference in this field in Europe.
It regularly attracts more than 1000 scientists, engineers, industry representatives and exhibitors
from all over the world and focuses on the latest developments on running and planned fusion
experiments“, said Dr. Radomír Pánek, the Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics.
On the 5th of September, this major international meeting for experts in the field of
thermonuclear fusion SOFT 2016 was officially opened. The conference is held under the auspices of
the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and will last until Friday, the
9th of September.
The international meeting is dedicated to the latest findings, results and future plans in the
area of technologies for thermonuclear fusion. The meeting session was opened by the
President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prof. Jiří Drahoš, who recalled that "
global cooperation and dialogue is a prerequisite for successful development of energy sources
based on the principle of thermonuclear fusion." He also stressed the importance of the
training of a new generation of researchers. Training is also one of the objectives of the Strategy AV21, in this case, of its programme "Systems
for Nuclear Power industry" coordinated by the Institute of Plasma Physics. Opening speeches have
been given also by the Deputy Minister Prof. Stanislav Štech (Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sports) and by Director General of the
ITER Organization (International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor) Prof. Bernard Bigot. At this occasion, Mr. Bigot gave a talk for the TV show “
Hyde Park Civilization” (Czech Television).
During the first day of the conference, the
SOFT Innovation Prize 2016 was
awarded. EURATOM Fusion Energy Department started awarding this prize in 2014, at each edition of
the Symposium on Fusion Technology. The objective of the prize is to reward outstanding researchers
and engineers who try to find new solutions to the huge challenges of fusion. The prize is one of
the elements of the Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community for research and training (EURATOM), established for the period 2014 to 2018 and complementing Horizon
2020 (the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation).
More information and the detailed programme are available on the conference website SOFT 2016
(http://www.soft2016.eu/).
The main topics of the conference are:
- Experimental Fusion Devices and Supporting Facilities
- Plasma Heating and Current Drive
- Plasma Engineering and Control
- Diagnostics, Data Acquisition and Remote Participation
- Magnets and Power Supplies
- Plasma Facing Components
- Vessel/In-Vessel Engineering and Remote Handling
- Fuel Cycle and Breeding Blankets
- Materials Technology
- Power Plants Safety and Environment, Socio-Economics and Technology Transfer
- Laser and Accelerator Technologies
Photos: IPP.
5 Sep 2016
