High-temperatures in furnace, low-temperatures at Antarctica, vacuum and radiation in space, high pressure under the deep sea..., these are distinguished extreme environments that cannot be tolerated by living human beings. Human beings have made it possible to explore and utilize these extreme environments by creating new materials resistant to the extreme conditions that will serve as barriers to separate the extreme environments from human activities. It is not exaggeration to say that the extreme environment is exactly the frontier of humankind and the invention of extreme environment resistant materials has led the development of human civilization.
One of the frontiers of living human beings is the development of new energy sources. Various unutilized energy sources have been proposed so far, and among them, "fusion reactor" is expected as a base load energy source supporting human civilization for a long time. However, complex extreme environment in the nuclear fusion reactor which overlaps with high temperature, high pressure, and radiation is a barrier to its realization. Our laboratory is pursuing research and development on materials resistant to extreme environments that are key to the realization of next generation energy sources such as fusion reactors or advanced fission nuclear power systems.
