The Cycle of Conferences “Let’s talk about Physics” organised by the Faculty of Physical Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid hosted Ángel Ibarra, Director of IFMIF-DONES España.

Under the title “The IFMIF-DONES project”, Ibarra presented the raison d’être of the project in the Aula Magna of the faculty, specifying the status of its development and the likely short-term future, with an emphasis on its possible use in other fields of scientific and technological research.

Throughout the lecture, he focused on two main objectives: to explain what the DONES project consists of, and to convey the complexity involved in today’s large scientific projects, as well as the time it takes to set them up.

The conference began with an overview of what has been and continues to be the European strategy to achieve fusion reactions as a source of energy. This strategy is based on the construction of plasma machines of increasing size, with JET being the largest machine in Europe.

Attendees were also able to understand the main differences between JET and ITER – the facility in which the IFMIF-DONES project is framed – with the latter aiming at maintaining fusion reactions for a longer time, producing electricity and being able to close the whole cycle.

The hour-long talk was also used to explain in detail the functions and research that will be carried out at the facility, and how it will be constructed. The Q&A session held at the end of the presentation showed the great interest that the project is arousing among physics students.

The Faculty of Physics of the Complutense University of Madrid has published the full video of the talk: