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ePaper created 2014-12-22, 09:34:33 | version 1.34.00
18 increasingly powerful and energy-intensive. New approach- es are needed to reduce energy use. In collaboration with the field of key technologies research, this programme will examine the fundamentals of the new solid state based technologies and strategies for energy-efficient data storage and processing. It will also address the basic problems of material systems in the areas of energy production, conver- sion, and storage. Technology, Innovation and Society The success of scientific innovations not only depends on their scientific and technical quality, but is also governed by economic, ecological, political, cultural and ethical factors. In cooperation with the field of key technologies research, this programme will combine energy system analysis, tech- nology impact assessment, sustainability research and risk and innovation research in order to study these complex issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. PROGRAMMES IN THE COMING FUNDING PERIOD 2015–2019 WENDELSTEIN 7-X FUSION DEVICE SOON TO GO INTO OPERATION After years of planning, production and assembly, final preparations began in May 2014 for the operation of Wen- delstein 7-X, the world’s largest stellarator fusion device. The plant’s technical systems are currently being tested in a step-by-step process: the vacuum, the cooling system, the specially shaped superconducting coils and the magnetic field they generate. “If everything works properly, the system will be able to generate the first plasma in about a year,” says project manager Thomas Klinger. The goal is to demonstrate the viability of a stellarator power plant. TRACKING FOAM Biogas plays an important role as a renewable energy source – there are now around 7,700 biogas plants in Germany. Effective plant opera- tion is necessary for optimal output, and disrup- tions such as uncontrolled foaming – the con- sequences of which range from reduced output to damaged containers – must be avoided. UFZ researchers have developed the “Leipzig foam tester” as a counter-measure. In 2014 this device was awarded the IQ Innovation Prize of the City of Leipzig. MICROORGANISMS FILTER URANIUM OUT OF GROUNDWATER In a planned Finnish repository for highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, HZDR researchers have discovered bacteria that can con- vert dissolved uranium into needle-like crystals. As their investigations show, these crystals consist of a uranyl phosphate mineral that forms in the process. In this way, the microorganisms filter radioactive material out of water and bind it. This means they can also reduce the bioavailability of uranium – and the probability that it will pass into the human food chain. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) A glimpse into the experi- ment room: the main assembly stage is complete. Image: Bernhard Ludewig/IPP Bacterial biofilms could play an important role in increasing the safety of final repositories for radio- active substances. Image: HZDR The Leipzig foam tester. Image: André Künzelmann/UFZ