FOM Rijnhuizen

The FOM Institute for Plasma Physics ‘Rijnhuizen’ is one of the research institutes of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter, FOM. The institute is usually referred to as ‘Rijnhuizen’, the name of an 18th-century mansion and of the surrounding estate, which forms the institute’s premises since its foundation in 1959.

FOM is a government-supported organization with an annual budget of about 150 million DGL (approximately 65 M$), which co-ordinates and stimulates most of the fundamental physics research in the Netherlands. The funding of FOM is provided for a large part by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). NWO is the central Dutch organization in the field of fundamental and strategic scientific research.

A major mission of Rijnhuizen is to contribute to the European research programme on nuclear fusion, a programme which is co-ordinated and financially supported by Euratom via an Association Agreement. The Association Euratom-FOM is also responsible for the Dutch contribution to the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) signed 30 March 1999. The EFDA Agreement is part of a long-term programme of co-operation covering all the activities in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion by magnetic confinement in the European Union and in the Swiss Confederation.

Its aim is to provide a framework for implementing research, development and design work in preparation for the possible construction of an experimental fusion reactor. The Dutch participation in the development of reactor technology is carried out by the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group NRG.

Since 1987 a diversification of the scientific programme at Rijnhuizen has been taking place. It is now focussed around three major research themes:

1. plasma physics
2. development and application of radiation sources
3. molecular physics

Research on the first two themes is embedded in the research school Centrum voor Plasmafysica en Stralingstechnologie CPS, comprising –in addition to Rijnhuizen - research groups at Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), Twente University of Technology (Twente UT), and Utrecht University (UU).