19 April 2013
With the HiPER Project reaching the conclusion of its Preparatory Phase, a well-attended Participants’ Forum was held in Prague to follow the SPIE Photonics event.
Chris Edwards chairs the first session on Project highlights and the 5-year forward plan.
Talks included updates from Dimitri Batani on experimental progress, Jacques Duysens on Virtual Reactor Modelling and Manolo Perlado on progress in materials and reactor concepts
Subjects covered also included target mass-manufacture, injection and tracking, fundamental science and training and, from Thierry Massard, an update on future opportunities for experimental beamtime on Laser Mégajoule to test the physics of the HiPER ignition scheme at full scale.
In the afternoon discussion focused on the future – possibilities for a new collaboration agreement, the proposal for STFC to fund coordination and governance and a future bid to the European Community to take the HiPER Science and Technology Phase forward.
Above: Thierry Massard explains that Laser Mégajoule will be open for academic access. Clearly a very significant opportunity for HiPER scientists!
.
Left: John Collier concludes the Participants Forum with a look to the future of HiPER
Having now completed its Preparatory Phase on schedule, the HiPER Project team is poised to move forward with the next essential steps, timed to bring commercial laser fusion energy to commercial reality as the world faces an increasingly pressing energy challenge, to produce clean, reliable and abundant energy for the future.