FPN08-66
ITER Update
December 10, 2008
ITER Director General Kaname Ikeda was the lead-off speaker at Fusion
Power Associates Annual Meeting and Symposium, December 3-4 in
Livermore, CA. Ikeda told the meeting "The idea for ITER originated
from the Geneva Superpower Summit in 1985 where Presidents Gorbachev
and Reagan proposed an international effort to develop fusion energy."
He said the European Union, as host, was to contribute 5/11 of the ITER
cost, with the other six Parties (China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia
and the U.S.) each contributing 1/11. The ITER cost was estimated at
approximately $5B Euros in 2007, he said. A Design Review was completed
in December 2007. He did not comment on the independent cost review
which is currently underway to update the ITER cost and schedule.
Currently, ITER operation is scheduled to begin in 2018. Ikeda said
that, as of October 31, there were 217 professional staff on site, with
129 of those coming from the EU. By early 2009, staffing would
increase to 340, he said. The ITER is designed to produce 500 Megawatts
of thermal fusion power with only 50 Megawatts of input heating power
to the plasma and "burn" for 300-500 seconds (5-8 minutes), he said. He
noted that the ITER Organization has "already signed 12 Procurement
Arrangements with the Parties' Domestic Agencies."
The ITER Technical Advisory Group (TAG), chaired by Michel Huguet, met
in Cadarache November 3-4 to review the project's progress, schedule
and resource requirements. Huguet said the TAG noted "the good progress
in key tokamak components such as magnets and vacuum vessel, where
design is stabilizing." Regarding the divertor design, Huguet said they
thought "it is premature to decide whether the first operation of ITER
should be with a carbon reinforced carbon or a tungsten divertor."
Remote Handling "remains a concern" for the TAG, he said.
The ITER Council, based on a recommendation from its independent review
panel (Briscoe Panel), has recommended that ITER project coordination
between the ITER Organization (IO) and the Parties' Domestic Agencies
(DA) be strengthened. The IO is implementing this recommendation by
forming "Integrated Product Teams." Three teams have formed thus far,
for the vacuum vessel, blanket and the power supplies. The Council also
approved the implementation of the Test Blanket Module (TBM) program
into the ITER Agreement. The TBM was not part of the original ITER
Agreement among the Parties. The TBM is designed to demonstrate tritium
breeding self-sufficiency technology for future fusion power plants.