National Academies calls for a fusion pilot plant
Concept for a tokamak fusion pilot plant. Note figure of a human being at bottom right, giving a sense of scale. Image courtesy of T. Brown, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently completed two studies that together map out a strategy for the development of fusion energy. The first, issued in 2019, titled “Final Report of the Committee on a Strategic Plan for US Burning Plasma Research,” endorsed a new goal for US fusion energy research and development: a fusion pilot plant. It recommended that the United States should focus its fusion R&D on a minimum-cost device capable of putting electricity on the grid, with the capability of qualifying the technologies required for economically competitive fusion energy.
PatnaDaily
Bihar has a long history of organized education. Once upon a time, Bihar was a leading place in terms of higher education. Nalanda and Vikramshila University was the two most important centres for learning in India. Nalanda University being the focal point handled all branches including (Art, Architecture, Painting, Logic, Grammar, Philosophy, Astronomy, Literature, Buddhism, Hinduism, Arthashastra (Economics & Politics), Law, and Medicine, Arithmetic, Theology, Law, Metaphysics, Ethics) and housed up to 10,000 students at its peak.
Students from China, Korea, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia and from all the regions of India came to Nalanda and Vikramshila uinversities to study.
But at present, both Bihar and Nalanda is in ruins. State is highly deficient in the area of good technical institutions. Some institutions of higher learning like Birla Institute of Technology, (BIT, Mesra Ranchi), Xavier Labour Relation Institute (XLRI, Jamshedpur), Indian School of Mines (
DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Hong Qin and Ahmed Diallo. (Photos by Elle Starkman)
Hong Qin and Ahmed Diallo, physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), received the Lab s outstanding research awards for 2020 for their work in plasma physics to push forward advancements in fusion energy.
Qin received the Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology Development for the recent development of structure-preserving algorithms for plasma physics. Diallo was named PPPL Distinguished Research Fellow for his groundbreaking studies of tokamak edge plasma dynamics and his development and utilization of novel plasma diagnostics. Each prize includes a $7,500 cash award. Steve Cowley, Laboratory director, presented the awards in a ceremony Dec. 18.