FPN16-01

EU Will Update Roadmap to Fusion Power

January 2, 2016

The European Union organization charged with overseeing and coordinating the EU's quest for fusion power, EUROfusion http://www.euro-fusion.org/, plans to update during 2016 the EU's 2012 strategic plan to put fusion electricity on the grid by 2050, according to Xavier Litaudon speaking at Fusion Power Associates December 16-17 annual meeting in Washington, DC. ITER remains "the key facility of the roadmap" but the update will incorporate the impact of slippage in the ITER construction schedule. A new ITER schedule is expected to be approved by the ITER Council "by mid-2016" according to ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot, who also spoke at the meeting.

The EU strategic plan reflects a collaboration with Japan on the "broader approach" to fusion that was a part of the ITER siting decision process. According to EUROfusion, "In the course of the roadmap implementation, the fusion programme will move from being laboratory-based and science-driven towards an industry- and technology-driven venture". To "ensure minimal delay to Demo" the EU has initiated a "conceptual design System Engineering Approach" that will address such issues as safety, tritium breeding, power exhaust, remote handling, component lifetime and plant availability, according to Litaudon. Experience gained from continued operation and "internationalization" of the JET tokamak and from JT-60SA (in Japan), WEST and Wendelstein 7-X are also important elements of the plan.

Ed Synakowski, head of the US fusion program, told the audience that the US had recently completed the US fusion Strategic Plan requested by Congress in 2014. Permission from Congress was needed before the Plan could be released to the public, he said.

The talks from the FPA annual meeting, Strategies to Fusion Power, are posted at:

http://fusionpower.org and click on Annual Meetings and Symposia

or directly at:

http://fire.pppl.gov/fpa_annual_meet.html