The EUROfusion Consortium decided to allocate 2.7 mln EUR – plus a similar amount contributed by the participating nations – to the project entitled “Conceptual design for a European High Power Laser Fusion Research Facility (HiPER+RF). The funding from the Enabling Research budget was allocated for the period 2026-2027 to support more than 140 researchers belonging to 30 research groups from 12 countries to prepare a conceptual design of a next-generation European laser fusion research facility for studies on direct drive inertial confinement fusion. It is planned that the facility would be designed to achieve ignition, scale to high gain (exceeding 100) and operate at Hz repetition rates under reactor-relevant conditions. The PI of the project is Dimitri Batani (U. Bordeaux). An overview of the project may be found here: Conceptual design for a European High Power Laser Fusion Research Facility
The HiPER Plus project – new developments (18 May 2023)
During the period between the last communication (March 2022) and 18 May 2023 there was another big historic achievement at Livermore: The laser-driven inertial fusion principle has been fully demonstrated reaching ignition and burn, with a net energy gain (fusion energy versus laser energy) of 1.5. This last result has shown clearly that laser-fusion ignition is indeed possible, predictable, and repeatable.
HiPER+ initiative has never stopped its work activities, but after the 5th of December 2022 there was an acceleration with the aim to develop a roadmap for the Inertial Fusion Energy research in Europe: High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 11, e83 (2023)
The continuation of HIPER – the HIPER Plus project (March 2022)
Proposal for a new ‘direct-drive’ laser-fusion programme in the EU
The aim of this consortium under creation is to prompt the European laser-fusion community to rejuvenate the enthusiasm that spawned the pioneering ‘HIPER‘ project, and to work together to set the building blocks of a new related EU project.
Our initiative is timely also because of the very encouraging results obtained at the NIF facility in the US, where a recent laser fusion experiment nearly reached the ignition threshold (read the news here)
Letter of HIPER Plus promotion: HiPER-Plus Community Letter 29 March 2022
The continuation of HIPER-HIPER Plus proposal for a new ‘direct-drive’ laser-fusion program in the UE
Letter of HiPER Plus sustainability: “An evaluation of sustainability and societal impact of laser direct-drive fusion technologies: a case for a new research infrastructure”, S. Atzeni et al., High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 9, e52 (2021).
The initiative has recently been approved and is fully supported by the Beam Plasmas and Inertial Fusion Board of EPS