Associate Professor TANABE Hiroshi in the Department of Advanced Energy won the Encouraging Prize of the Masaji Yoshikawa Memorial Prize for Fusion Energy 2022 and was awarded the commendation at the 15^th Plenary Meeting of the Fusion Energy Forum Japan held on March 17, 2023.

The Encouraging Prize of the Masaji Yoshikawa Memorial Prize for Fusion Energy is awarded to young researchers whose achievements will contribute to realizing fusion energy in research and technology development, investigation, social cooperation, and contribution within and outside Japan, such as the ITER Project and the Broader Approach Activities. The research activities have been globally performed by the spherical tokamak merging technique and advanced plasma diagnostics techniques developed at the University of Tokyo as the core techniques with the cooperation of the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) of the Culham Science Centre and the ST40 experiments of Tokamak Energy, a venture business in the UK. These activities were recognized amongst the majority of researchers from large research institutions.

The Encouraging Prize of the Masaji Yoshikawa Memorial Prize for Fusion Energy 2022

Study of central solenoid free plasma startup scenario using NBI-free ion temperature measurement

TANABE Hiroshi, Associate Professor, Department of Advanced Energy, the GSFS

Message from Awardee:
I am truly honored to receive such an award with a long history. I am grateful to the committee members, the professors who nominated me, and everyone who supported me during conferences and my visit to institutions for the joint research activities. I have been performing spherical tokamak merging experiments with the collaboration with the ST40 of a burgeoning nuclear fusion company, Tokamak Energy, and MAST of the Culham Science Centre, and building a neutral-beam-injection-free ion temperature measurement facility in the UK. I am glad that these hands-on joint research activities were recognized. Unfortunately, I could not participate in the award ceremony in person but online because I have been at Tokamak Energy in England since February. We have secured ports for the application of the two-dimensional 96CH ion Doppler tomography measurement using the multi-slit technique, which has succeeded at the University of Tokyo. And we are currently building the device with upgraded equipment we brought from Japan. I will pursue my research with the scenario optimization approach with an "eye" for the rigorous evaluation of plasma heating scenarios. There are only small to middle size devices of spherical tokamak now, and they reached the 100 million-degree level along with tokamak and helical reactors in 2022. This award encourages me to strive for my research activities more than before.

For details on the award, refer to the website of the Fusion Energy Forum Japan: the Encouraging Prize, the Masaji Yoshikawa Memorial Prize for Fusion Energy 2022