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Steve Cowley, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, Title of talk: Stability and Meta-stability: a challenge for fusion

Abstract:
Instability limits the pressure and the current in fusion plasmas. These limits can be soft, where the instability effectively prevents the plasma exceeding the limit but does not disrupt explosively. More problematically, limits can be hard, where the plasma releases
considerable amounts of energy explosively to bring it well below the stability limit. I will demonstrate that pressure driven modes can and do exhibit both kinds of behavior. The consequences for fusion will be discussed.

Steven Cowley, a theoretical physicist with a focus on fusion energy, became the seventh Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 2018, and a Princeton professor of astrophysical sciences. He has held positions on both sides of the Atlantic including: President of Corpus Christi College and professor of physics at the University of Oxford and, chief executive officer of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

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