"Toroidal field strand procurement is going rather well," reports Arnaud Devred, who heads the Superconductor Systems & Auxiliaries Section at ITER. "We are on schedule."

Manufactured by suppliers in six ITER Domestic Agencies—China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and the USA—production of niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) superconducting strand for ITER's toroidal field coils began in 2009 and has now topped 400 tons.

That's more than 80,000 kilometres of strand—enough to go around the world twice at the Equator.

Worldwide capacity has had to ramp up significantly to meet the Project's demand. There are eight qualified suppliers for ITER, including three that are new to the market (one in China, one in Korea and one in Russia). In 2011 and 2012, these eight suppliers, together, turned out over 100 tons annually.

"One hundred tons per annum represents a spectacular increase in the worldwide production of this multifilament wire which was estimated, before ITER production, at a maximum of 15 tons per year," says Devred. "As you would expect, the price has come down, and this 'surge' in production for ITER may well open up new markets."

Eighteen toroidal field coils will be produced for ITER plus a nineteenth (a spare). That's approximately 420 tons of strand, give or take a bit of spare material planned by each Domestic Agency. The production curve will begin to flatten in 2013 (see graph above) as contracts are brought to a close in several Domestic Agencies.

Devred estimates the market value of the toroidal field strand procurement at over EUR 200 million.

"It has been very satisfying to see this procurement unfold and to watch our international collaboration develop at every step in the process," says Devred. "In addition to the sheer scale of this procurement, what is also remarkable is the quality control and quality assurance that we have been able to set into place."

Four of the ITER suppliers are using a production technique called internal tin, while another four are using a bronze process. "It has been up to us to demonstrate that we can control both types of production within technical requirements," explains Devred, "We weren't sure of ourselves since this is the first time there has been such a large-scale production of internal tin. Test data shows that we can do it effectively."  

Quality testing for ITER calls for statistical process control on critical parameters, systematic low-temperature measurements on strands, and regular low-temperature measurements on full-size conductors (25 percent of toroidal field conductor unit lengths are tested). This testing data is stored, like manufacturing data, in ITER's conductor database, which is currently fed by approximately 150 users, including suppliers and Domestic Agencies. Some 350,000 individual objects are stored in this web database—created to monitor the quality assurance/quality control processes of the conductor Procurement Arrangements.

Devred credits the "early days" with setting up the processes and systems that are proving to work today for conductor procurement: before the signature of the first ITER Procurement Arrangement, the specifications for ITER conductors were written by a committee made up of worldwide experts in large conductor procurement. Very tight quality control was developed that imposes many control points at each stage of fabrication verified by the Domestic Agencies and the ITER Organization. "I believe this will be the key to our final success," says Devred. "I am confident that what is coming off of the manufacturing lines is as good as can be made."

Read more on how strand is produced in Newsline 140.

It was foreseen by the authors of the ITER Agreement, signed in 2006 by the seven ITER Members.

As a research organization, the ITER Organization may conclude scientific collaboration agreements with other international organizations and institutions in the interest of promoting cooperation on fusion as an energy source.

For ITER, collaboration agreements keep ITER scientists and engineers in close touch with work going on in precise domains relating to fusion science and technology; for the laboratories and institutes, they are an opportunity to collaborate with the fusion community's most advanced experiment.

Since January 2008, the ITER Organization has signed 34 scientific collaboration agreements and another 4 are currently in the preparatory stages. A common thread amongst these agreements is the training of young researchers.

"In the coming years, I envision more and more of this type of scientific exchange for the ITER Organization," says the Director-General of the ITER Organization, Osamu Motojima. "I would like to open ITER's door to younger people who will in fact take on a lot of the responsibility for fusion in the future. ITER will be the foremost research laboratory for magnetic fusion. Scientific collaboration agreements enrich the experience of our scientists, and provide training for the next generation of fusion scientists. The ITER Organization is a Centre of Excellence in this area."

Under these scientific collaboration agreements, the ITER Organization and research institutes can cooperate in academic and scientific fields of mutual interest. "Some of the ideas for collaboration come from our scientists. We have compiled a database of agreements signed by the ITER Organization so that when we're approached, we can inform them whether we already have an agreement with the institute in question," says Anna Tyler of Legal Affairs.

Typically, the agreements cover the following type of collaboration: joint supervision of students working on Master's or PhD theses; joint training and exchange of young scientists, engineers, interns and experts; joint research projects (particularly in plasma physics); and joint seminars.

Collaboration agreements have been signed with laboratories and institutes in Austria , China France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Monaco, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Japan,  and the UK—the most recent to date was signed just last month with the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering at the University of Pisa (Italy).

David Campbell, head of ITER Plasma Operation Directorate, has been able to see the practical benefits of such exchanges. "Because we are aiming to develop ITER as centre of excellence in fusion research, such agreements allow us to develop scientific and technology exchanges with leading fusion research institutions around the world, building a network of fusion research activities which not only supports the preparations for ITER operation, but also contributes to the longer-term realization of the potential of fusion energy.

One of the more exciting aspects of the collboration agreements relates to the training activities and the opportunities they provide for younger researchers to participate in the ITER Project, according to Campbell. "The transfer of knowledge between generations is a key element of the scientific enterprise and an integral component of the development of ITER as an international centre of fusion research."

They call it the "snowball in hell"—a bullet of frozen deuterium fuel heading at high speed into the furnace-like plasma of the MAST fusion device at Culham. A team at MAST is investigating this method of fuelling plasmas and how it will work in the future on the giant international experiment ITER.

Firing these tiny pellets is one of the most effective ways of getting fuel into the plasma, enabling fusion reactions and the unlocking of energy. This will become increasingly important as future fusion devices become bigger and plasmas get hotter to reach ignition, the point at which the plasma heats itself without external input—crucial for power-producing reactors. To achieve ignition, the density of the plasma core must be raised and sustained by fuelling it.

Luca Garzotti, one of the CCFE physicists studying pellet injection on MAST, explains the process: "Just like a car engine, a tokamak needs to be fuelled—the fuel goes in to the plasma and there is an exhaust to get rid of unwanted gases. In fusion, helium comes out of the exhaust via a system called the divertor. I'm looking at how we can put the fuel (deuterium and tritium) in at the start.

An Associated Laboratory in fusion was established earlier this month between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the French Commission of Atomic Energy (CEA) to develop cooperation on two long-pulse tokamaks, EAST and Tore Supra, soon to be equipped with an ITER-like tungsten divertor — the project WEST.

The creation agreement was signed on 3 July by Prof Li, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) and Gabriele Fioni, director of CEA's Physics Science Division, CEA, at the French Embassy in Beijing. French nuclear counselor Pierre-Yves Cordier hosted the signing ceremony, with André Grosman, deputy director of the Institute of Magnetic Confinement Fusion Research (IRFM/CEA) and consular assistant Shunming Ding. 

The associated laboratory has been created to develop cooperation on CEA's long-pulse tokamak WEST* and ASIPP's EAST, particularly in the fields of actively cooled, metallic plasma-facing components; long-duration plasma operation in an actively cooled, metallic environment; long-pulse heating and current drive; ITER technology support; and the preparation of "Generation ITER" (see this issue's Of Interest entry) in all of the above-mentioned areas.

Xavier Litaudon and Yuntao Song are appointed as the associated laboratory's co-directors. They will be responsible for leading and coordinating the performance of the projects under the Associated Laboratory Agreement.

"I am enthusiastic about the CAS/ASIPP-CEA collaboration," said Prof Li after the signature. "The cooperation between EAST and WEST will be good for all fusion communities."

As a first step, ASIPP has already sent two young researchers to IRFM to work for one year on WEST component design and engineering.

* WEST = W (tungsten) environment for steady state tokamak

In Japan there is a saying, "Ten years make an epoch." The import of anything lasting a decade is captured in this statement, the equivalent of which in Korean is, "Ten years is long enough to transform the mountains and rivers."

For the past nine years, a strong bilateral cooperation has been underway between Korea and Japan on fusion energy. During a two-day meeting of the Korea-Japan Joint Coordinators Meeting from 25-26 April, participants had the opportunity to reflect on the thick and thin of the years together and cherish the memorable moments.

Key achievements to date include the loan of eight types of auxiliary components (heating and diagnostics) to the KSTAR Tokamak that have been installed and put into operation; close partnership in relation to ITER technology and procurement; the annual exchange of fusion specialists for ITER and KSTAR (approximately 200 fusion scientists exchange visits each year under the auspices of the Joint Coordinators Meeting). The direct outcome of bilateral cooperation, for example in the areas of diagnostics, heating components and joint testing, has contributed significantly to improving the operational performance of KSTAR.

More recently, Korea and Japan have been spearheading the establishment of guidelines for schedule and cost compliance by Members for the ITER project.

The two-day meeting last April brought together high-level representatives from both Korea and Japan. Representatives from Korea's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) included MSIP Director Kyung Sook Yoon and President Myeun Kwon of NFRI.

On the Japanese side, the delegation of 19 included Director Shuichi Sakamoto from the International Nuclear and Fusion Energy Affairs Division of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Director-General Masahiro Mori from the Fusion Research and Development Directorate at JAEA (Japanese Atomic Energy Agency), and Director-General Akio Komori of NIFS (National Institute for Fusion Science).

President Kwon remarked, "As we have walked this path together for the past nine years, I hope to see this relationship continue as we look to a new decade ahead of us and grow into a partnership that will open a new chapter in the history of fusion energy development. I look forward to the discussions at our 10th Joint Coordinators Meeting, where we expect to deal with an important and practical agenda."

As cooperation among Asian countries is critical for the commercialization of fusion energy, bilateral cooperation between Korea and Japan is essential. Bilateral cooperation under the Joint Coordinators Meeting framework is expected to play an increasingly important role. Participants from both nations expressed the wish to see the enduring friendship and solid partnership continue into a new decade.

​A new educational currency in the world of fusion becomes available this month with the launch of European Fusion Masters and Doctorate Certificates. The certificates are awarded by FuseNet, Europe's fusion education network, to recognize students with a high level of specialization in fusion, says Professor Niek Lopes Cardozo, chair of FuseNet: "Fusion is an exciting, interdisciplinary field. Our students [are] a group with special qualities and we want to recognize that. 'Fusion' is a quality brand; the certificate is a quality stamp."

The launch comes at a time when there is growing discussion of the preparation of Generation ITER. Writing in Science magazine, journalist Dan Clery drew attention to an "awkward gap" for fusion personnel that could eventuate between JET and ITER, and it is precisely this issue that FuseNet's new certification addresses.

"FuseNet plays an important role in preparing the ITER generation," says Duarte Borba, senior advisor to the EFDA leader. "A new generation of scientists and engineers are needed to operate ITER and to develop the science and technology required to build a fusion power plant."
 
Read more on EFDA website.

It has been an unusual July so far in Provence. Thunderstorms have broken over the site almost every afternoon, causing work to be stopped until the storm front moves on.

Storms over the ITER platform do not come unannounced: when one approaches, the French storm forecast agency Metéorage (a subsidiairy of Météo-France) sends an alert to security personnel, who activate the appropriate siren. Depending on the distance of the incoming storm, the siren sounds an "orange alert," stopping only the heavy activity, or a "red alert," requiring full site evacuation.

This spectacular bolt of lightning was captured last Wednesday from a fifth floor window in the ITER Headquarters building after a red alert was sounded.

Lightning is a high current electric discharge in the air that generates a ramified column of plasma. This specific bolt might have been looking for its kindred—the plasma that will be created within the ITER vacuum vessel. The place was right but the time some seven years too early.