News

8^th November 2017 The Industry Day of IPP starts in Prague.

 

24^th September 2017 The 18^th Laser Aided Plasma Diagnostics (LAPD) starts in Prague.

 

28^th August 2017 The traditional SUMTRAIC (SUMmer TRAIning Course) starts at COMPASS tokamak. In two weeks, participants from multiple countries obtain basic working experience in the fusion research, including preparation of the experimental campaign, operation of the tokamak, data analyses and presentation of results. SUMTRAIC 2017 is attending by 16 students divided into groups by topics. Each group was supervised by 1 - 2 experts from the COMPASS staff.

 

8^th June 2017 The Science Fair 2017 starts at PVA EXPO Letňany in Prague.

 

5^th June 2017 The 5th Runaway Electron Meeting starts in the Chateau Liblice.

 

10^th May 2017 The EUROfusion Liquid Metal Strategy Meeting starts at IPP.

 

 

9^th February 2017 The seminar on Bayesian probability and its applications in plasma physics was held in IPP

 

16^th January 2017 Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) International Organizing Committee begins in Prague

 

5^th December 2016 EMTRAIC (Erasmus Mundus TRAIning Course) - practical training for students of the Erasmus Mundus Programme (European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion) - starts at COMPASS tokamak.

 

21^st September 2016 The 8^th COMPASS Programmatic Conference starts in the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague. The conference was traditionally combined with the meeting of the International Board of Advisors (IBA).

8^th September 2016 New arrays of ball-pen and Langmuir probes were installed to the divertor of the COMPASS Tokamak.

 

5^th September 2016 Director General of the ITER Organization Prof. Bernard Bigot in the Hyde Park Civilization directly from the COMPASS Tokamak. You can see more here.

 

5^th September 2016 The 29^th edition of the Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT 2016) starts in Prague, from the 5th to 9th of September 2016 in the Prague Congress Centre.

 

13^th June 2016 The two-week Code Camp - a regular meeting focused on Integrated Tokamak Modelling - starts in Prague, hosted by the Institute of Plasma Physics.

 

30^th May 2016  The Otto Wichterle Award 2016 - The President of the Cezch Academy of Sciences, prof. Jiri Drahos awarded twenty young scientists who have successfully fulfilled an important scientific task. Among awarded scintists was also Dr. Michael Komm from the COMPASS tokamak. More information here.

 

15^th February 2016 Erasmus Winter Event starts at the Institut de Recherches sur la Fusion par Confinement Magnétique(IRFM); Centre d'Etudes de Cadarache (CEA) in France -  the "Joint Practicum" of the Erasmus Mundus Programme ("Nuclear Fusion and Engineering physics"). There were also tasks which consists of operating COMPASS tokamak remotely from France.

 

7^th December 2015 EMTRAIC (Erasmus Mundus TRAIning Course) - practical training for students of the Erasmus Mundus Programme (European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion) - starts at COMPASS tokamak.

 

12^th October 2015  The Institute of Plasma Physicsof hosts the 22^th IAEA Technical Meeting on Research Using Small Fusion Devices.

 

24^th September 2015 The 7^th COMPASS Programmatic Conference starts in the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague. The conference was traditionally combined with the meeting of the International Board of Advisors (IBA). The opening ceremony was attended by the President of the Academy of Sciences Prof. Jiri Drahos.

 

14^th April 2015 His Excellency Mr. Jean-Pierre Asvazadourian, the French Ambassador in the Czech Republic, visited tokamak COMPASS.

 

31^st March 2015 The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Mr. Pavel Šolc visited the COMPASS tokamak with prof. Jiří Čtyroký, the Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

 

30^rd March 2015 Ghent University, the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague signed the Frame agreement on double-degrees for students of the Erasmus Mundus Fusion DC. The first PhD student who shall be working under this Frame agreement is Milos Vlainic from Serbia, who focuses on Runaway electron studies at COMPASS tokamak.

 

23^rd March 2015 The Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague started its international workshop on „Advances in materials development for fusion device“.

 

18^th March 2015 The European Fusion Education Network FUSENET decides that the next PhD event shall be hosted at the Czech Technical University in Prague from 15^th to 17^th November 2015. The Institute of Plasma Physics - in particular, our PhD students - will help in organising this event. It was also decided that the 2016 PhD event shall be organised by ITER.

 

16^th March 2015 The two-week Code Camp - a regular meeting focused on Integrated Tokamak Modelling - starts in Prague, hosted by the Institute of Plasma Physics.

 

10^th March 2015 The Institute of Plasma Physics signs the „Memorandum of understanding with ITER“. At present, our collaboration with ITER focuses on the plasma-wall interaction, RMP (Resonant magnetic perturbations) and Thomson scattering diagnostic.

 

8^th December 2014 The winter course EMTRAIC begins at the COMPASS tokamak. This course is similar to the SUMTRAIC summer training course, however, it is organised for the students of the Erasmus Mundus Fusion Master programme.

 

24^th November 2014 The joint IAEA experimental week starts at the COMPASS tokamak.

 

13^th November 2014 At COMPASS tokamak, a record lenght of the discharge (960 ms in discharge number 8682) was achieved in the experiments with high contribution of the Runaway Electrons to the plasma current.

 

20^th October 2014 The Institute of plasma physics hosts ITPA (International Tokamak Physics Activity) Meeting on Divertor & SOL (Scrape-off layer).

 

8^th October 2014 The Institute of plasma physics hosts the regular meeting of the initiative Czech Industry for ITER.

 

3^rd October 2014 The 29^th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) in 2016 will happen in Prague, as was announced at conclusion of the 28th SOFT in San Sebastian, Spain. The Symposium shall be organised by the Institute of Plasma Physics and the Research Centre Rez. For details please see the webpage http://www.soft2016.eu/.

 

25^th August 2014 The team of the COMPASS tokamak organises the traditional two-week summer school SUMTRAIC. The school is focused on practical training in tokamak operation, including the preparation of the experiments, its analyses and presentation of the results. Sixteen students from 11 countries (including Brasil) participate in this year edition.

 

18^th July 2014 Website of the 6^th COMPASS Programmatic Conference has been launched today. The conference will take place in Prague on 11-12 September 2014.

 

7^th May 2014 The COMPASS tokamak performed the first successful experiment with the RMP coils (discharge number 7209).

 

15^th April 2014 The ITPA (International Tokamak Physics Activity) Pedestal & Edge Physics Meeting starts in the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague.

 

9^th December 2013 EMTRAIC (Erasmus Mundus TRAIning Course) - practical training for students of the EM Erasmus Mundus (European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion) programme - starts at COMPASS tokamak.

 

11^th November 2013 The IAEA joint experiments on tokamaks COMPASS and GOLEM take place this week in Prague under the auspices of IAEA and with participation of 20 scientists from 12 countries.

 

25^th July 2013 Website of the 5^th COMPASS Programmatic Conference has been launched today. The conference will take place in Prague on 12-13 September 2013.

 

20^th March 2013 A TV news item on successful achievement of the H-mode in the COMPASS tokamak was broadcast in the evening News programme "Události" of the main Czech public TV channel CT1. The information was linked to the press conference, which the Institute of Plasma Physics organised on 13^th March. Even before the press conference, the COMPASS H-mode was reported e.g on the EFDA webpage and in the ITER Newsline, see also the news item dated 29^th November 2012.

 

10^th December 2012 The training school EMTRAIC started on the COMPASS tokamak. This eight-day long practical course of the tokamak operation and data analyses is run for students of the European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion and Engineering Physics.

 

29^th November 2012 The COMPASS tokamak achieved the H-mode. For the first time since the facility had been reinstalled in Prague, the high confinement mode of operation (known as the H-mode) was observed. In the H-mode, plasma confinement improves approximately by a factor of two due to the formation of a transport barrier at the plasma edge. At COMPASS, the H-mode was first observed while plasma was heated by a neutral beam injection. In subsequent experiments the so-called Ohmic H-mode (with no beam heating) was achieved as well. The result confirmed the foreseen capability of the COMPASS tokamak to operate in this mode. This is a key milestone with respect to the scientific programme of the COMPASS team, because the H-mode today defines the standard operating regime of large fusion experiments, including ITER.

 

3^rd November 2012 In the framework of the open days, approximately 300 high-school students visited the COMPASS tokamak on November 2^nd. Today, on Saturday November 3rd approximately one hundred individual visitors from general public participated in guided tours to the facility.

 

17^th September 2012 The programmatic conference of the COMPASS tokamak starts in the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague. The conference is traditionally combined with the meeting of the International Board of Advisors (IBA) of our Association EURATOM-IPP.CR. The recommendations and ideas stemming from the meeting shall serve as an input to the meeting of the Association's Steering Committee (SC), which is scheduled at the beginning of October.

 

10^th September 2012 The IAEA joint experiments on tokamaks COMPASS and GOLEM take place this week in Prague under the auspices of IAEA and with participation of several countries.

 

8^th September 2012 The Czech public TV newschannel CT24 broadcasts an open discussion on the future of nuclear energy Hyde Park Civilizace with Dr D Drabova, chairperson of the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety. Starting from the 36th minute a spot from the COMPASS tokamak is shown and Dr. R. Panek, Head of the tokamak replies a couple of questions live from our institute.

 

27^th August 2012 The traditional SUMTRAIC (SUMmer TRAIning Course) starts at COMPASS tokamak. In two weeks, participants from multiple countries obtain basic working experience in the fusion research, including preparation of the experimental campaign, operation of the tokamak, data analyses and presentation of results.

 

1^st June 2012 The COMPASS tokamak as a large research infrastructure of European significance obtained financial support from the Czech Ministery of Education. The support is for operation and basic human resources (COMPASS-RI, project LM2011021).

 

17^th May 2012 The COMPASS tokamak repeatedly achieved stabilised elongated plasma with the X-point i.e. in the divertor regime.

 

23^rd February 2012 First experiments with plasma shaping on tokamak COMPASS after its reinstallation in Prague and previous technical and experimental campaigns with circular plasma cross-section. In the current experiments, plasma cross-section has successfully achieved the D-shape, corresponding to the cross-section of the COMPASS vacuum chamber.

 

22^nd December 2011 Plasma discharge of the COMPASS tokamak was for the first time combined with the injection of the neutral beam (40 keV, >200 kW).

 

1^st December 2011 The latest issue of the InFusion journal (download) includes 2 interviews on the COMPASS tokamak on page 5 and 6. The journal is printed by Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.

 

22^nd August 2011 The 9th international SUMmer TRAIining Course SUMTRAIC starts. The main task of participants in this fortnight summer school is to participate in the COMPASS tokamak operations.

 

14^th July 2011 Website of the 3^rd COMPASS Programmatic Conference is launched today. The conference will take place in Prague on 17-18 October 2011.

 

24^th June 2011 The first tests of Thomson scattering diagnostic system have been performed on Friday June 24th during several plasma discharges. Since November 2011, Thomson scattering system is used for measurements of electron temperature and density profiles in the central plasma region, including measurements of their time evolution.

 

23^rd June 2011 British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the COMPASS tokamak. 

 

25^th March 2011 Mr. Jan Březina MEP visited the COMPASS tokamak.

 

28^th February 2011 The 9th Summer Training Course SUMTRAIC will take place at the COMPASS tokamak in Prague from August, 22^nd till September, 2^nd 2011, for details see the SUMTRAIC webpage. This experimental school is hold jointly by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Association EURATOM/IPP.CR, the KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (RMKI) and the Association EURATOM/HAS.

 

11^th February 2011 ITER Newsline publishes a short report on the two new Neutral beam injectors for the COMPASS tokamak, see article "New equipment for the COMPASS Tokamak in Prague".

 

23^rd December 2010 The two assebled neutral beams for plasma heating were successfully commisioned in the Institute of Plasma Physics (see the news item below).

 

10^th November 2010 Two trucks from the distant Novosibirsk Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics arrived at our Institute to unload many boxes with components of two neutral beam injectors. The injectors will serve as plasma heating sources for the COMPASS tokamak. Siberian experts are expected to arrive and start assembly of the beam injectors next week.

 

1^st October 2010 Tokamak COMPASS hosted the annual meeting of the Steering Committee of the Asociation EURATOM-IPP.CR.

 

27^th September 2010 In Porto, Portugal, the SOFT (Symposium on Fusion Technology) international conference opens. Tokamak COMPASS is presented in five contributions: Hron M. et al., Weinzettl V. et al., Janky F. et al., Horacek J. et al., Hron M. et al..

 

16^th September 2010 Today and tomorrow the COMPASS Programmatic Conference takes place in our institute. On this occassion the International Board of Advisors of the Association EURATOM-IPP.CR have a meeting. More than 20 foreign experts participate in the conference.

 

3^rd September 2010 Students concluded the traditional International Summer Training Course SUMTRAIC on COMPASS by presentation of their experimental results. 14 students from 7 countries participated in the two weeks of training of tokamak operation.

 

25^th May 2010 A website with information on the Summer Training Course SUMTRAIC was launched. The event will take place on the COMPASS tokamak in collaboration with our Hungarian colleagues. It is a traditional summer school focused in particular on development of practical skills in tokamak operation, data analyses and presentation of results. The school is also advertised on the website of the FUSENET consortium.

 

3^rd March 2010 Website of the 2nd COMPASS Programmatic Conference - to take place in Prague on September 16-17 this year - was launched. See also the news item from the 2^nd April 2009.
 

15^th September 2009 The italian new server LSWN published the article "Tokamak COMPASS back in operation".

 

9^th August 2009 Tokamak GOLEM (the former tokamak CASTOR of the IPP Prague, see the news item from 26^th October 2007) had the first successful plasma break-down in its new place in Brehova street (Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering)

 

7^th May 2009 Today and tomorrow the Prague Congress Centre hosts a major EU conference "Research Connection". In the framework of this conference, fusion research is represented four times (i) by an exhibition Fusion Expo (ii) in a panel discussion "Industrial opportunities in the new era of nuclear research" (iii) in a press briefing of the tokamak COMPASS (iv) in the Forum 13 "ITER - Opportunities for industry in fusion technology".

 

2^nd April 2009 At 9 am today, the first international COMPASS programmatic conference started in the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague. Yesterday, i.e. exactly one year after the COMPASS inauguration in Prague, the International advisory board of the Association EURATOM/IPP.CR had its annual meeting.

 

24^th March 2009 The Institute of Plasma Physics hosts the EFDA Steering committee. Tomorrow at 9:30 the EFDA Leader Dr. Jérôme Paméla will present an invited talk in the main seminar room of the Institute.

 

19^th February 2009 Today, the official start of operation of tokamak COMPASS took place in IPP Prague. On this occasion, 100 kA plasma electric current has been experimentally achieved. This event was attended by the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, VIP guests from EURATOM, media and via video-conference also by the British team from Culham Science Centre, the birthplace of COMPASS.
 

9^th December 2008 In the framework of technical tests, tokamak COMPASS "broke down" the first high-temperature plasma discharge after its re-installation in Prague.

 

30^th October 2008 Physics World journal of the British Institute of Physics published on the occassion of the IAEA Fusion Energy Conference a special issue "Fusion Challenges and Solutions", where an article dedicated to the tokamak COMPASS reinstallation can be found.

 

17^th June 2008 A new website "Czech Industry for ITER" was launched in order to inform Czech companies, research organisation and expert public on the possibilities to participate in the ITER construction. The webpage also presents - in both Czech and English versions - the Czech companies which declared interest in a possible collaboration in production of ITER components.

 

27^th May 2008 Thermonuclear fusion was presented twice in the Millenium series of the Czech news TV Channel: On 22^nd May the subject of the debate was ITER (with Michel Chatelier, director of fusion research in CEA Cadarache as the special guest) while on 26th May the main focus was on the fusion research in the Czech republic.

 

1^st April 2008 Tokamak COMPASS was inaugurated in the Institute of Plasma Physics. Among the VIP guests of the celebration were, among others, the Minister of Industry Mr. Martin Říman, Her Excellence Linda Duffield Ambassador of UK in the Czech Repulic, the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences prof. Václav Pačes, the EURATOM director Mr. Octavio Quintana Triaz, the UKAEA director Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, Mr. Vladimír Remek MEP, rector of the Czech Technical University prof. Václav Havlíček, Chairman of the Advisory Board Mr Hardo Bruhns and others. More information (in Czech) including pictures can be found e.g. on the news server Aktualně.cz.

 

18^th December 2007 Historic date for the Czech tokamaks: While in the morning tokamak CASTOR left its place after 30 years to move to the Czech Technical University, in the afternoon in a brand new building adjoint to the old one, tokamak COMPASS was set into its new position.

 

26^th October 2007 The last commemorative plasma discharge on the tokamak CASTOR in the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague. It worked hard until yesterday, when students from the Czech Technical University measured data for their practical work. Tomorrow, dismantling must start with a rather tight schedule.

 

20^th October 2007 A special truck loaded with tokamak COMPASS arrived to its destination, the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague (see photos on the Czech news server Aktuálně.cz)

 

17^th September 2007 Tokamak COMPASS was lifted from its original position in the Culham Science centre. Due to a long lever required, a rather impressive crane with 500 tons load capacity was called. The tokamak itself weighted about 23 tons, quite at the limit of the possible load. See pictures on the news server Aktuálně.cz. Tokamak COMPASS was then stored for a month in the Assembly Hall of the JET facility.