Fusion News

FYI - Fusion News/Alerts 16 Apr 2026

Control engineering - On KSTAR, ITER’s plasma control system successfully takes charge

https://www.iter.org/node/20687/kstar-iters-plasma-control-system-successfully-takes-charge 

[Latest ITER Newsline: https://www.iter.org/whatsnew/496]

New UK Fusion Energy strategy maps path to commercial fusion

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-fusion-energy-strategy-maps-path-to-commercial-fusion 

[View/Download] UKAEA Strategy 2026-2030 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69dcd248a1cd1c174934dcc8/ukaea-strategy-2026-2030.pdf 

Europe’s fourth Vacuum Vessel sector is ready for ITER

https://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/news/europes-fourth-vacuum-vessel-sector-is-ready-for-iter/ 

Department of Energy’s tech incubator doubles down on fusion power

https://www.science.org/content/article/department-energy-s-tech-incubator-doubles-down-fusion-power 

LLNL Partners with Inertia to Develop Fusion Energy Technology

https://lasers.llnl.gov/news/llnl-partners-inertia-develop-fusion-energy-technology 

Global fusion sector scaling up, creating UK SME opportunities

https://www.niauk.org/global-fusion-sector-scaling-up-creating-uk-sme-opportunities/ 

Funding fusion milestones

https://www.neimagazine.com/analysis/advanced-reactorsfusion/funding-fusion-milestones/ 

ARPA-E commits $135 million for fusion commercialization

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7923/arpae-commits-135-million-for-fusion-commercialization/ 

Conditional funding announced for US fusion-based isotope facility

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/conditional-funding-announced-for-us-fusion-based-isotope-facility 

U.S. Energy Secretary Tours Fusion Facilities at General Atomics

https://www.ga.com/us-energy-secretary-tours-fusion-facilities-at-ga 

UKFE Ltd signs £30m contract with Dassault Systèmes

https://www.niauk.org/ukfe-ltd-signs-30m-contract-with-dassault-systemes/ 

Three Paths to Fusion Power

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/three-paths-to-fusion-power 

Target Breakthrough Enabled Fusion Record at NIF

https://lasers.llnl.gov/news/target-breakthrough-enabled-fusion-record-nif 

Machine learning accelerates analysis of fusion materials

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-machine-analysis-fusion-materials.html 

New fusion research at Sheffield

https://sheffield.ac.uk/cmbe/news/new-fusion-research-sheffield 

Avalanche Energy contracted to develop radioisotope power technology

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/avalanche-energy-contracted-to-develop-radioisotope-power-technology 

Shine receives $263M conditional DOE loan to complete isotope facility

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7924/shine-receives-263m-conditional-doe-loan-to-complete-isotope-facility/ 

Helion outsources research by funding external partners

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7926/helion-outsources-research-by-funding-external-partners/ 

Copper blasted into a million-degree plasma strips away 22 electrons in a flash before atoms recover

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-copper-blasted-million-degree-plasma.html 

New fundamental physics measurement deepens quantum mystery

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-particle-mass-measurement-deepens-quantum-mystery/ 

 

NTPC partners EDF on nuclear

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/ntpc-partners-edf-on-nuclear/ 

Bottled lightning makes a cleaner fuel

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123530 

Senate bill looks to clarify DOE authority over advanced reactors

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-04-15/article-7940/senate-bill-looks-to-clarify-doe-authority-over-advanced-reactors/ 

Project Omega and INL to further investigate UNF recycling with ARPA-E award

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7916/project-omega-and-inl-to-further-investigate-unf-recycling-with-arpae-award/ 

New scintillating composite leads to versatile and inexpensive neutron sensor

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-04-13/article-7931/new-scintillating-composite-leads-to-versatile-and-inexpensive-neutron-sensor/ 

Russia trials ATF mox fuel

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/russia-trials-atf-mox-fuel/ 

NASA’s Artemis II moon mission splashes down

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-artemis-ii-moon-mission-splashes-down/ 

Recent Peer-Reviewed Articles of Interest

Machine learning for microstructure synthesis in fusion materials: A physics-aware validation framework for tungsten plasma-facing components

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311526000395

Signal-to-Background Ratio Calculations for ITER Upper Vertical Neutron Camera

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15361055.2026.2642537 

A procedure for rule extraction from a Self-Organising plasma disruption predictor for JET

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-38318-9 

Laser-produced plasmas as probes of astrophysical magnetic fields

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-026-00935-8 

Gamma-ray spectrometry for burning plasma scenario developments

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ae5de1 

Laguerre–Gaussian pulses for spin-polarized ion beam acceleration

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/high-power-laser-science-and-engineering/article/laguerregaussian-pulses-for-spinpolarized-ion-beam-acceleration/C9D2B94D52BA5DE415880F2994166725 

[Of Interest]

Plagiarized research passed automated tests, and I detected it—but only because it copied my work

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-plagiarized-automated.html 

“Hiding science in really fun things”: Kids gets hands-on with real research in Denver

https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2026/04/kids-hands-on-research 

China Imposes New Security Curbs After Alleged Supercomputing Data Breach

https://www.ntd.com/china-imposes-new-security-curbs-after-alleged-supercomputing-data-breach_1138102.html 

Fog is a vital water resource. Could it disappear in a warming world?

https://www.science.org/content/article/fog-vital-water-resource-could-it-disappear-warming-world