The first project will complete the detailed and fully integrated engineering design of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF). Fusion as a major energy source will require materials which maintain their essential physical properties and which do not remain highly radioactive for extended periods of time after exposure to the harsh thermal and irradiation conditions inside a fusion reactor. IFMIF will allow testing and qualification of advanced materials in an environment similar to that of a future fusion power plant.
The second project is the Japan-EU Satellite Tokamak Programme (STP). During ITER construction, major experimental facilities will be required to develop operating scenarios and address key physics issues for an efficient start up of ITER experimentation and for research towards a demonstration fusion power plant (Demo). The STP in Japan has been identified as a device which could fulfil these objectives. It will therefore be upgraded to an advanced superconducting tokamak and used by Europe and Japan as a "satellite" facility to ITER.
The third project is the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC). The missions of the centre include the co-ordination of Demo Design and R&D activities, large scale simulation activities of fusion plasmas by super-computer and remote experimentation activities to facilitate a broad participation of scientists into ITER experiments.
Concurrently with the accomplishment of the Intermediate Engineering Design report of IFMIF, the installation of the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator has now started in Rokkasho, Japan. The Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the IFMIF accelerator designed to operate two beams of deuterons at 125 mA with 100 percent duty cycle to obtain a source of fusion-relevant neutrons equivalent in energy and flux to those of a fusion power plant.
IFMIF will be capable of providing >20 dpa/fpy (displacements per atom/full power year) with neutrons with a broad peak at 14 MeV allowing, within a few years of operation, the characterization of suitable materials for the first wall of the reactor vessel, together with the acquisition of data from fusion-relevant neutrons that will help material scientists unravel the underpinning physics.
The Linear Prototype Accelerator (called LIPAc) is under design and construction mainly in different labs in Europe under the coordination of the European Domestic Agency (F4E), and will be installed in Japan by a joint team from Europe and Japan. On its own, with 1.125 MW of average beam power, LIPAc will lead the world ranks of high current accelerators.
After the successful performance during the individual system tests carried out at CEA (Saclay) in November 2012, the ion source and the low energy beam transfer have been delivered to Rokkasho and the installation activities have now started. This activity will be performed in Rokkasho by a team led by Luigi Semeraro (F4E) and the collaboration of JAEA during the third week of June. The validation of the accelerator prototype, together with the success of other related constructed prototypes in Europe and Japan will support the start of construction of IFMIF at a future time.