About the Nuclear Fusion Research Program

Nuclear fusion is an environmentally friendly technology with the potential to unleash unlimited energy. Currently, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER project leads global scientific efforts to achieve fusion power, and it has entered a new development stage aiming at a full-scale nuclear burning experiment. Japan plays a central role in the ITER project and has contributed greatly to the development of nuclear fusion technology. In order to maintain Japanese leadership in fusion research, it is necessary to foster young and excellent human resources capable of leading the nuclear fusion community.

To meet such demand, the University of Tokyo has created the Nuclear Fusion Research Program since 2008 at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, which bolsters a multidisciplinary environment with state-of-the-art experimental facilities. This educational program is implemented by a curriculum system that crosses the Department of Advanced Energy and the Department of Complexity Science and Engineering in the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences. The curriculum is both interdisciplinary (you can learn a wide range of basic science comprehensively and systematically), and practical (it is based on cutting-edge research projects). In the interdisciplinary part of the curriculum, you can study a wide range of fields such as plasma science and engineering, nuclear fusion science, as well as environmental and social sciences. In the practical research part of the curriculum, advanced plasma experimental equipment is actively used, and pioneering and innovative research education is provided by directly participating in cutting-edge research projects.