ITER NEWSLINE
139
Tokamak research united
Ronald D. Stambaugh, Vice-President-Magnetic Fusion Energy Program
Representatives of all the big tokamaks around the world gathered in Cadarache last week for the ITPA Coordinating Committee.
The 12th Meeting of the ITPA Coordinating Committee took place in Cadarache on 28-29 June. The ITPA (International Tokamak Physics Activity) provides a framework for coordinated physics research activities among the world's tokamaks in support of ITER. Director-General Ikeda opened the meeting with a review of the status of the project. He noted that over the past two years, the operation of the ITPA under the auspices of ITER has been very effective and he invited the ITPA-CC to prolong the present arrangement for another two years.
David Campbell, Assistant Deputy Director-General of the Fusion Science and Technology Department at ITER, summarized ITER research needs and recent STAC/IC (Science and Technology Advisory Committee/ITER Council) actions. The seven Topical Group Leaders reviewed research work in their areas and discussed how that work supported ITER.
Brief reports were also made on the status of magnetic fusion research programs in China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. Excellent progress has been made relocating the ITPA website to the ITER website. A new proposal on tokamak physics databases that would be common to all ITPA Topical Groups was also discussed.
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