COMPASS – Tokamak for thermonuclear fusion research Project ID: LM2023045 Provider: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic Period: Jan 01, 2023 - Dec 31, 2026 Principal Investigator: prof. RNDr. Radomír Pánek, Ph.D. Co-investigators M. Hron, P. Bílková, A. Havránek, M. Jeřáb, S. Tokoš, I. Mysiura, J. Převrátil, I. Hanák, V. Weinzettl, P. Böhm, K. Kovařík, D. Naydenkova, V. Veselovský, I. Němec, P. Bartoň, O. Shyshkin, D. Šesták, P. Háček, F. Jaulmes, K. Patočka, J. Adámek, J. Čeřovský, A. Torres, M. Šebík, O. Hronova, P. Vondráček, A. Casolari, O. Chvátal, P. Boócz, M. Tadros, M. Dimitrova, M. Varavin, O. Peroutka, J. Havlíček, P. Junek, J. Krbec, M. Král, J. Klíma, J. Cavalier, A. Paglini, T. Markovič, Aims of the project: The large research infrastructure COMPASS, consisting of the experimental tokamak facility, its auxiliary systems and laboratories, is one of the key research infrastructures in the EU's joint effort to master controlled thermonuclear fusion as an energy source within the EUROfusion European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy. In 2021-2025, the infrastructure is back in the construction phase, during which the development and installation of the new COMPASS-U tokamak and its auxiliary systems are taking place. COMPASS-U, operating with a high magnetic field (5 T) and a high plasma current (2 MA), is a unique device in the world, as it will be able to develop, investigate and test innovative plasma and divertor configurations focusing on the problem of the energy and particles exhaust from the plasma out of the reactor, thereby contributing to solving one of the main challenges on the way to the future DEMO fusion reactor. In addition, it will enable the study of advanced confinement regimes for the ITER and DEMO tokamaks under conditions close to the DEMO reactor. Also, operation with the first walls with a temperature of up to 500°C, as in future reactors, will represent a unique characteristic of COMPASS-U. The combination of the COMPASS-U features with suitable plasma parameters allows to solve not only the key design challenges of the ITER tokamak and its future scientific exploitation, but especially the challenges associated with the construction of the European DEMO fusion reactor on the basis of the European Roadmap "European Research Roadmap to the Realisation of Fusion Energy" of the consortium of European fusion laboratories - "EUROfusion". The COMPASS infrastructure will provide open access to the broad Czech and foreign user community after its re-commissioning and will also focus on the education and training of a new generation of scientists and engineers in the field of high-temperature plasma in the tokamaks and fusion technologies.