FPN04-49

US ITER Activities Summarized

July 29, 2004

At the July 26-27 FESAC meeting, Ned Sauthoff, Project Manager of the recently established US ITER Project Office, told the group the US was spending $3 million this year in direct ITER support for "joint preparations directed at maintaining the coherence and integrity of the ITER design and at preparing for an efficient start of ITER construction," and for "organizational preparations directed at enabling the ITER Legal Entity to enter into effective operation with least possible delay following the entry into force of the ITER Joint Implementation Agreement."

Sauthoff said that the tentative ten percent US "in-kind" contributions to ITER construction are estimated (in US dollars) as follows:

Central Solenoid Magnets (4 of 7):	$107 M
Plasma-Facing Components:	$21 M
Ion Cyclotron System:	$45 M
Electron Cyclotron System:	$47 M
Vacuum Pumping and Fueling:	$22 M
Diagnostics:	$30 M
Tritium Processing:	$17 M
Steady State Power Supplies:	$21 M
Other:	Unspecified amount

Sauthoff said that a request for proposals was issued in May to 4 US strand vendors for development and qualification of more than 100 kg of superconducting strand and offers were received from all four. He said that the US has "seconded" the equivalent of 3 person-years to the 69 person ITER International Team, which currently includes 31 from Europe, 21 from Japan, 13 from Russia and 1 from China.

Sauthoff's presentation is posted at http://fire.pppl.gov