The Energy Institute (EI) is a professional organization for engineers and other professionals in energy related fields. The EI was formed in 2003 with the merger of the Institute of Petroleum (dating back to 1913) and the Institute of Energy (dating back to 1925). It has an international membership of about 20,000 people and 200 companies. Its main office is at 61 New Cavendish Street, London, England. EI is a registered charity with a Royal Charter.In the United Kingdom, EI has the authority to establish professional registration for the titles of Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, and Engineering Technician, as a licensed member institution of the Engineering Council. It is also licensed by the Society for the Environment to award Chartered Environmentalist status.
To support the plasma research on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), a full-scale positive ion source designed to deliver a 120 keV, 6 MW ion beam was developed for the neutral beam injection system. During commissioning with hydrogen, the ion source sustained an acceleration voltage of 120 kV and an extracted beam current of 50 A for 2 s, corresponding to an ion beam power of 6 MW. A 12 s pulse was also achieved at 80 kV and 23.7 A, corresponding to a beam power of 1.9 MW. Thermocouple measurements on the calorimeter indicated a minimum beam divergence of 0.93 degrees at an optimum perveance of approximately 1.35 & times;10- 6 A/V3/2. Doppler shift spectroscopy showed that the proton fraction increased from 55% to 78% as the beam energy and arc power were increased from 45 to 120 keV and from 20 to 90 kW, respectively. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the accelerator design and its capability for 120 keV, 6 MW ion beam extraction.
Doppler reflectometry (DR) can measure the turbulence in magnetic confinement fusion plasma by detecting backscattered signals, and has been widely used in fusion devices. On the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST), a Backscattering and Forward-scattering integrated DR system has been deployed during the 2024 experimental campaign, which can measure the turbulence across multiple scales at the same location, simultaneously. In the scattering process, the wave vector values satisfy the Bragg condition: mk(perpendicular to)=k(s)-k(i). For Doppler backscattering (DBS), it detects the m =-1 scattered signal, whereas for the forward scattering, it detects the scattered signal with m > 0 . To investigate the scattering process around the cutoff layer for DR, a two-dimensional (2D) plane-shaped O-mode full-wave simulation based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method has been done. It was found that the signal received by the DBS is mainly the m = -1 scattered signal, while the turbulence measured by the Doppler forward-scattering (DFS) corresponds mainly to low-k fluctuations ( k(perpendicular to)<3cm(-1)). Besides, the results indicate that for both backscattering and forward scattering, the intensity of the scattered signals increases with turbulence level, while the Doppler shift frequency remains unchanged. Therefore, based on these simulation results, the integrated Backscattering and Forward-scattering DR system can simultaneously measure the large scale (low-k) and small scale (high-k) turbulence at the same position in the plasma.
The sluggish kinetics, poor conductivity, and metal dissolution of NiFe hydroxides hinder their application in the alkaline oxygen evolution reaction (OER), highlighting the necessity for structural regulation and mechanistic understanding to meet industrial requirements. Herein, we propose a NiFe(OH)xCly electrocatalyst featuring a fundamentally reconstructed coordination structure and electronic configuration with the highly responsive oxide pathway mechanism (OPM). Lattice-positioned Cl (21.6 wt%) preferentially binds Ni over Fe and compresses metal-oxygen layers, intrinsically optimizing the electronic configuration and structural stability. Moreover, Cl directs hydroxyl substitution at the Ni/Fe-Cl tetrahedral sites, enabling dehydrogenated oxygen to form closer interactions with neighboring hydroxyls via hydrogen bonding, thereby promoting direct O-O coupling and better OER kinetics. NiFe(OH)xCly exhibits an overpotential of 217 mV at 100 mA cm-2 and 3000-h durability at 1 A cm-2. The integrated NiFe(OH)xCly & Vert;Pt/C anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer achieves 1 A cm-2 at only 1.69 V with 1000 h stable operation. This work highlights an intrinsic strategy for structural tuning and mechanistic optimization for industrial OER electrocatalysts.
Hydrogen production via an anion-exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolyzer has emerged as one of the most promising strategies for large-scale hydrogen generation, owing to its low cost, rapid response, and modular scalability. However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode still suffers from intrinsically sluggish four-electron-transfer kinetics, which remains a critical bottleneck to commercialization. In this work, we synthesized an amorphous NiFe-based hierarchical array OER catalyst using a template-assisted method. This hierarchical array promotes rapid electron transport and exposes abundant active sites, exhibiting an overpotential of 283 mV to achieve a current density of 100 mA cm-2 and stable operation for more than 100 h. Furthermore, in situ electrochemical Raman spectroscopy revealed the structural transformation of Ni active sites during the OER. The AEM water electrolyzer assembled with the NiFeCuOx array catalysts delivers an industrial-level current density of 2.7 A cm-2 at 2.0 Vcell. This template-assisted synthesis method provides a new pathway for constructing NiFe-based OER catalysts and also offers valuable insights for advancing the commercial implementation of AEM electrolysis technology.
The neutron flux monitoring (NFM) system of the fission chamber in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) operates in a dual-mode configuration that combines pulse counting and Campbell modes, enabling wide-range measurements across eight orders of magnitude. The accuracy of cross-calibration between these two modes is of paramount importance. Conventional calibration studies typically employ simulated signals based on idealized Gaussian amplitude distribution (GD) models, which deviate from the asymmetric response characteristics of practical detectors. To address this limitation, a parametric neutron signal generation system was developed in this study. By integrating a programmable signal source capable of outputting GD and experimentally amplitude distribution (EAD) pulse signals, the system enables a comprehensive evaluation of their respective impacts on dual-mode cross-calibration intervals and error margins. The results show that the effective calibration interval for the GD source extends from 5 & times; 104 to 5 & times; 105 cps, while that for the EAD source shifts to 2 & times; 104 to 4 & times; 105 cps. Compared with the conventional GD-based calibration approach, the EAD method reduces the cross-calibration error in converting the mean square voltage integral of neutron pulse signals collected in Campbell mode into pulse count rate by 1.07%, representing a relative reduction of 15.59%. These findings demonstrate that the EAD calibration method significantly enhances the accuracy of dual-mode calibration in the fission chamber.
