Yves Martin
Dr. Yves Martin obtained his BS and MS degrees in physics at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland). He then went on to complete his PhD on the TCA tokamak, during which he studied the ablation of Deuterium pellets, a method of feeding the plasma. He then undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at General Atomics, San Diego, to gain experience both theoretically and experimentally on the improved confinement regime observed in tokamaks. The launch of a new tokamak in Switzerland (TCV) motivated him to return to his home country to contribute to the understanding of this improved confinement regime and, in particular, the transition to this regime. In particular, he is the author of the latest international scaling law that enables the power required to reach this regime in future devices such as ITER to be predicted. Also interested in the operation of tokamaks, he went on to become one of the operators of TCV. He is currently member of directorate of the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC)of EPFL, responsible for managing the centre’s administration, in particular the technical services. He is also in charge of the SPC’s communications, as he enjoys sharing information with a wide audience.
Presentation: Fusion Energy in a Nutshell
Fusion is the energy that powers the stars, in particular our Sun. Reproducing fusion energy on Earth will provide mankind with a safe, abundant and respectfull of the environment source of electricity.
The presentation will start with the basics of fusion reactions and the different confinement schemes, with some emphasis on magnetic confinement of plasmas in tokamaks. Various methods of plasma heating will then be described, along with various measurement systems. The current state of research will be presented through a selection of results obtained in our TCV tokamak and in the European JET device. Finally, an overview of the construction of ITER, the international facility designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasability of fusion will be presented, followed by a round-up of the many private companies around the world that are entering the race to commercialise fusion.