Japan’s Kyoto Fusioneering (KF) has signed a special joint research agreement on plasma heating with the National University of Tsukuba. KF will partner with Plasma Research Centre at Tsukuba University directed by Professor Mizuki Sakamoto. The main objective is to advance the technological maturity of plasma heating, one of the focus areas for KF, including the demonstration of continuous operation in low frequency gyrotrons and the development of higher power output.
One of KF’s core businesses is the development and sale of gyrotrons, the plasma heating systems necessary to generate fusion reactions. KF’s advanced technical capabilities have resulted in contracts with research institutes, including the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and private entities such as General Atomics in the US.
In 2023, KF and Tsukuba University, together with an international industry-academic joint research group formed by the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), UKAEA and Canon Electron Tube Device Corporation, carried out joint experiments.
University of Tsukuba’s Plasma Research Centre, established in 1979, has the world’s largest tandem mirror-type plasma confinement system – Gamma 10 – a unique platform for verifying ultra-high plasma temperatures needed for fusion reactions and conducting various tests related to plasma heating. The University of Tsukuba was established in 1973 in Tsukuba Science City – Japan’s largest centre for cutting-edge research and development hosting more than 30 research institutes and more than 20,000 researchers Kyoto Fusioneering is a privately funded fusion energy engineering company founded in 2019 based on decades of fusion research at Kyoto University. It is headquartered in Tokyo, with a presence in the UK, and the US and an in-house Kyoto R&D centre.
Image: The Gamma 10/PDX, Plasma Research Center, University of Tsukuba (courtesy of Kyoto Fusioneering)
