Ministerial representatives from China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA are together to progress achieved in the construction of one of the most complex scientific and engineering projects in the world today.
On Friday, 6 September, the ITER Council holds a Ministerial-Level Meeting at ITER Headquarters in southern France. Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner in charge of Energy (left), and Geneviève Fioraso, the French Minister of Higher Education and Research, begin their visit to ITER by joining ITER Director-General Osamu Motojima for a site tour.
The red carpet is rolled out for ITER's international visitors near the Tokamak Seismic Pit, where construction begins this year on the civil works for the 360,000-ton Tokamak Complex.
The initiative of the European Commissioner for Energy
The Ministerial-Level Meeting was convened at the initiative of European Commissioner Oettinger, in charge of Energy (far left), as an opportunity for the Members' policy makers and high-level representatives to witness construction progress.
High-level representatives of the seven ITER Members join Commissioner Oettinger, Minister Fioraso and Director-General Motojima for the official photo.
Director-General Osamu Motojima told those assembled: "We are happy to show the spectacular construction progress achieved in the past couple of years and would like to express our gratitude for the confidence shown to the ITER team by the Members."
For both Commissioner Oettinger and Minister Fioraso, it was their second visit to ITER this year. Both expressed their satisfaction at the progress accomplished in a short lapse of time.
Only metres from the future centre of the scientific facility
Heads of Delegation Ravi Bhushan Grover (India), Robert-Jan Smits (Europe) and Edmund Synakowski (USA) compare notes with Minister Fioraso on the advancement of ITER construction.
Witnessing the progress of construction is an important element in understanding and assessing the Project. Pictured: Bernard Bigot, CEA Chairman and High Representative for ITER in France; Director-General Motojima; and Commissioner Oettinger.
Joining Head of Delegation Jianlin Cao, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, MOST (fourth from left) is interpreter Yalan Zhu; ITER DDG Ju Jin, Director of the Department of Administration; Tuo Cui, Deputy Director-General, Department of Basic Research, MOST; Luo Delong, Deputy Director-General, Chinese Domestic Agency; Ming Chen, Minister Counselor, Chinese Embassy in France; Hui Meng, Deputy Director, Secretary to Vice-Minister Cao, MOST; and Yanshuai Wang, Third Secretary, Chinese Embassy in France.
Joining Commissioner Oettinger (sixth from right), Minister Fioraso (fifth from left), and Head of Delegation Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission (fifth from right) are experts Mark van Stiphout, Andrea Carignani di Novoli and András Siegler from the European Commission; ITER Director-General Motojima; Henrik Bindslev, Director of the European Domestic Energy F4E; Pierre Gadonneix, President, Conseil Mondial de l'Energie; Stuart Ward, Chair of the F4E Governing Board; and Bernard Bigot, CEA Chairman and High Representative for ITER in France.
Joining Head of Delegation Ravi Bhushan Grover, Atomic Energy Commission and Director of the Homi Bhabha National Institute (fourth from the right) is Ujjal Datta, Minister (Science), Embassy of India in Paris; Sriram Kattalai Ramachandran, head of ITER's Finance, Budget & Management Systems Directorate; Dhiraj Bora, Director General of the Institute for Plasma Research (and former ITER DDG); ITER Director-General Motojima; Arun Srivastava, Secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission; ITER Internal Auditor Dhiren Mathur; and Shishir Deshpande, Head of the Indian Domestic Agency.
Joining Head of Delegation Teru Fukui, Senior Vice-Minister, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, MEXT (fourth from left): Ichiro Ikeda, Premier Secrétaire, Embassy of Japan; Kanji Fujiki, Deputy Minister of MEXT; ITER Director-General Motojima; Masaaki Sato, Consul Général, Japanese Consulate General in Marseille; Takayuki Shirao, Head of the ITER Office of the Director-General; Shuichi Sakamoto, Director of the International Nuclear and Fusion Energy Affairs Division, Research and Development Bureau, MEXT; and Mitsunori Kondoh, Director of ITER's Central Integration & Engineering Directorate.
Joining Head of Delegation Sung Kwang Yang, Assistant Minister for Future Leading R&D Policy, Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning, MSIP (third from left) is Taiyong Lee, Deputy Director, Fusion R&D Support Team, MSIP; Kijung Jung, Director-General of ITER Korea; Gyung Su Lee, Research Fellow, National Fusion Research Institute, NFRI; Myeun Kwon, President, NFRI; Joo-Shik Bak, ITER Chief Engineer and Acting Director of the Directorate for Project Control & Assembly; Hyuk Chae Koo, Science Counselor, Mission of the Republic of Korea to the EU; Silhee Jin, interpreter; Jae Hyung Lee, Head of External Relations Team, ITER Korea.
Joining Head of Delegation Igor Borovkov, Head of Apparatus (third from left) is Vitaly Korzhavin, Deputy Head ROSATOM, ITER-Center; Alexander Alekseev, ITER DDG and Director of Tokamak; Viacheslav Pershukov, Deputy Director General, Head of Innovation Department, ROSATOM; Anatoly Krasilnikov, head of the Russian Domestic Agency; and Vladimir Vlasenkov, Deputy Head, Institution "ITER Center," Russian Domestic Agency.
Joining Head of Delegation Edmund Synakowski, Associate Director for Fusion Energy Sciences, Office of Science, Department of Energy, DOE (second from right) is Marcos Huerta, Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Science, DOE; Brad Nelson, Chief Engineer, US ITER Project Office, ORNL; and Robert J. Ford, Senior Advisor, Office of Space and Advanced Technology, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State.
DDG Rem Haange, Director of ITER Project; Director-General Motojima; and DDG Carlos Alejaldre, Director of Safety, Quality & Security take their seats in the Council Chamber, surrounded by members of the press.
The ITER Council Ministerial-Level Meeting was opened by Council Chair Hideyuki Takatsu. To his left, are ITER Council Secretary Sachiko Ishizaka and French Minister Fioraso.
Different words, different languages, same message
The press conference was attended by some twenty different media, among them TV crews from France, Russia and Korea. Newspaper headlines the next day were exceptionally positive.
September 2013
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