FPN02-09

Europeans Study "Fast Track" Fusion

March 19, 2002

Last year, the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers requested that a group of experts, chaired by Prof. David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, examine the possibility of a fast track towards fusion energy production. The group met November 27, 2001, with the mandate to provide an interim report before December 10, 2001. In their interim report, dated December 5, 2001, the group stated that "The ITER project is the essential step towards energy production on a fast track." They state, "The emphasis in the research work on ITER should be on demonstration of sustained fusion power production and extraction; ITER will serve as an enabling research machine regardless of the design of later commercial reactors." They said that "Construction of ITER should start as soon as reasonably achievable."

In parallel with ITER, the group recommended the construction of an International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) "to provide solutions for a sustainable, environmentally benign and economically attractive energy technology."

Following ITER, the group recommended the construction of a DEMO/PROTO "that should be designed as a credible prototype for a power-producing fusion reactor, although in itself not fully technically and economically optimized." The group suggests that this approach, which "will require additional resources in the first leg of the track," might lead to achieving net electricity production in about 35 years.

The group states that "The role of industry in the engineering of fusion devices should grow significantly during the realization of ITER, and later of DEMO/PROTO," and that "The direct involvement of the electricity producers, the utilities, should increase progressively along the route to energy production." In the nearer-term, however, the group recommended bringing in the expertise of individuals within the industrial communities "in order to ensure that fusion developments meet the industrial requirements for energy production"

The full report can be accessed from http://fire.pppl.gov