The Commission has unveiled concrete plans to manage its portion of
ITER.
The European Commission has published its blueprint for the Joint
Undertaking, popularly known as `Fusion for Energy´, the proposed
entity to manage Europe´s obligations to the international ITER
fusion energy project. It is expected it to be in operation by mid-
2007. Under the ITER agreement, Europe is responsible for
approximately half of the high-technology components required to
build the fusion reactor.
The new Joint Undertaking will work with industry and research
organisations to produce the needed parts for the reactor. It will
consist of a governing board, composed of the members of the Joint
Undertaking, i.e. EURATOM, EU Member States and other associated
countries. Regular day-to-day activities will be the responsibility
of the Director, to be named at a later date.
"Building upon the success of the integrated Euratom fusion research
programme, the Joint Undertaking will be a dynamic new organisation
that will play a leading role in the construction of ITER and enhance
Europe´s role in the technological development of fusion energy,"
Commissioner Potocnik said recently in a statement.
The undertaking will be responsible primarily for managing the EU´s
financial contribution to the ITER project. As part of long and
complicated negotiations ensuring construction of the ITER site
within Europe (in Cadarache, France), the EU has agreed to shoulder
about half of the construction costs of the project. The current
estimate of the cost for the thirty-year project is set at EUR10
billion. With a price tag like that, it is second only to the
International Space Station as the most expensive international
scientific undertaking. The reactor is expected to be up and running
by 2016.
The stated objectives for `Fusion for Energy´ are, among other
things, to oversee preparation of the ITER site in Cadarache, to
arrange for European industry to manufacture the components that
Europe has agreed to provide, to prepare for the exploitation of
ITER, i.e., for scientists to carry out experiments with it.
The Joint Undertaking will also contribute to the implementation of
the "Broader Approach", an agreement between the EU and Japan aimed
at collaboration to accelerate the development of fusion energy. In
addition, the Joint Undertaking will prepare in the future a
programme of activities for the future development of DEMO, a
demonstration reactor expected to come after the construction of
ITER.
Cadarache, located near Lyon, was chosen as a candidate site for ITER
for several reasons. It is already the home of world´s largest super-
conducting fusion experiment, Tore-Supra at the CEA Cadarache
Research Centre, one of the biggest civil nuclear research centres in
Europe. Therefore, the Cadarache site has existing technical support
facilities and expertise, which significantly reduces the risks
associated with the construction of a project such as ITER.
The ITER consortium countries represent over one-half of the world´s
population; perhaps a telling indicator of the perceived potential
fusion has as the energy source of the future. Fusion does indeed
have many attractive qualities. The raw materials required as fuel
for a fusion reaction - deuterium and lithium - occur naturally in
almost limitless quantities. In the proposed fusion reaction, there
is a small amount of fuel that is only able to sustain a reaction for
about a minute, therefore, there is also no possibility of a runaway
chain reaction leading to a meltdown, as experienced at the Chernobyl
nuclear fission reactor. Also, in contrast to the burning of fossil
fuels, a fusion reaction releases no `greenhouse´ gases into the
atmosphere, so it does not contribute to global warming.
