Jérôme Bucalossi is an expert in nuclear fusion and magnetic confinement, currently Director of theIRFM (Institut de Recherche sur la Fusion Magnétique) at CEA. He plays a key role in the development of fusion technologies, particularly in the integration of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) for future reactors.

Involved in the SupraFusion program, of which he is one of three directors, he is helping to steer research into the use of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) to design more compact, high-performance fusion reactors, while strengthening France’s position in this strategic field.

Training and career

With a PhD in plasma physics on negative ion beams for fusion, he joined the CEA’s Institut de Recherche sur la Fusion par Confinement Magnétique in 1998 after a post-doc in Germany, where he did his thesis.

A pilot on Tore Supra and then JET, he was in charge of the Pilotage Group in the Institute’s Tokamak, Operations and Pilotage Department, before becoming Head of the Plasma-Wall Interaction Department between 2011 and 2013. After being in charge of the project to transform Tore Supra into WEST from 2013 to 2016, he has been coordinator of the IRFM Scientific Program since 2017. Jérôme Bucalossi took up his post as Head of the IRFM on February 10, 2020.