News
ITER and CERN sign Cooperation Agreement
Robert Aymar (left) and Kaname Ikeda after the signing ceremony at CERN
The ITER Organization and the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN have signed a Cooperation Agreement. The Agreement provides the opportunity for CERN and ITER to co-operate not only in the fields of technology such as superconductors, magnets, cryogenics, control and data acquisition and complex civil engineering but also in administrative domains such as finance, purchasing and human resources, including software programmes.
The Agreement was signed by Kaname Ikeda, Director General of the ITER Organization and Robert Aymar, Director General of CERN, in the presence of senior staff from both organisations. Kaname Ikeda said “The wealth of knowledge acquired by CERN over its many years of operation will make an important contribution to ITER’s ability to make rapid progress”. Robert Aymar, expressed his pleasure, not only as CERN Director General, but also as someone previously involved in the ITER project from its inception, that ”CERN is very happy to work with ITER in common areas of science and technology.”
The Cooperation Arrangement has been concluded for a five year period and enters into force immediately.
Monaco/ITER postdoctoral fellowships 2008
The first ITER Research Fellowship, sponsored by the Principality of Monaco, have been announced. The principal motivation of the Fellowships is the development of excellence in research in fusion science and technology within the ITER framework. The Fellowship applies to all PhD students of one of ITER parties or of the Principality of Monaco. Deadline for applications is 30 April 2008.
For more information click here.
Focus on ITER Management
As the sun shone down onto the harbour of Cassis, inside a nearby meeting room the spotlight was on management as ITER senior management met over the weekend of Feb 29 – March 2 for the first Senior Management off-site meeting.
The first morning was spent concentrating on ITER’s performance goals for 2008 and in the afternoon, Kaname Ikeda, Norbert Holtkamp and all the Deputy Director Generals gave presentations, outlining what each of them wanted to achieve this year and how they can measure their success. This concentration on Management the Organization and a clear definition of objectives was extremely useful.
Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, the Chairman of ITER Council also attended the final session of the meeting and gave a presentation on how ITER can interact effectively with Council. He congratulated ITER on organising the off-site meeting and underlined the global importance of the ITER project. Sir Chris emphasized how crucial it is to set up relationships of trust and confidence with Council Members, the Member Parties and Domestic Agencies, noting that it takes time. He also reminded ITER management how long it can take to build up effective systems and trust within a major international organization. A consistent goal for ITER is safety, emphasizing, reinforcing, and assuring the integration of safe and secure practices throughout the project is of the highest priority.
There were also presentations from Francois Gauché from Agence ITER France, Colin Miège from Mission ITER and the Communications Divison outlining the proposed communication strategy for the Organization.
--- Neil Calder, Head of ITER Communications
Portrait
In charge of Finance and Budget: Hans Spoor. Taking a break for the photographer: the Tritium Plant Project Team. Though Hans Spoor never was a schoolteacher, he often uses the impressive blackboard that dominates his office to explain the importance of good budgeting in a couple of chalk strokes. Hans officially joined ITER on March 1st as Head of Finance and Budget Division. In this role he will be responsible for financial management and accounting of ITER, budgeting, financial planning and resources, expenditures, annual accounts and auditing.
Hans certainly is no newcomer in the world of fusion. Although he is an accountant by education, he has worked in fusion, one way or another, for the last three decades. Hans joined JET as internal auditor in 1979 and later became Head of Finance from 1989 to 1993. Thereafter he moved to Brussels, where he was Head of Administration and Finance of the Fusion Division of EURATOM, between 1993 to 2004. In 2004 he joined the Directorate of International Cooperation in DG RTD (Research and Technological Development) at the European Commission as Head of Administration and Finance, overseeing the administration of international research activities.
His heart kept on going out to fusion though and when ITER, a project Hans had been following since the early days, finally became reality, being part of it was a challenge he willingly accepted. “I am a true believer in fusion energy as one of the potential solutions of the growing energy problems of this world. Helping the ITER project be successful in contributing to this is something I really look forward to doing.”
--- Iris Rona
Blackboard
Calling all musicians, singers, dancers…
We know many of you and your families play instruments, sing, or dance and we should like to find out who you are and try to put people in touch with each other to organise some ITER musical activities. So if you (or your family) are interested in getting together to play, sing or dance, send an email to Jennifer Hay jennifer.hay@iter.org or phone her on x 4657 or just drop in to Room 17 in B519 to have a word. And finally – the most important point of all: Would you be happy to help organise groups or events?
Picture of the Week
On 6 March 2008 ITER Deputy Director General Carlos Alejaldre had the rare chance to step onto the podium in the United Nations Headquarters in New York and breathe the air of international diplomacy. Acting as ambassador for the ITER project, Carlos Alejaldre had been invited to address the United Nations International School(UNIS)/United Nations (UNIS/UN) Student Conference which this year dealt with the question of The Pursuit of Energy: A Catalyst for Conflict. "Personally speaking, it was a unique experience being only the second Spanish person after the President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to speak in this place ", Alejaldre said. And, what was even more ďmpressive, was the interest of these young people in the ITER project. They just wouldn't stop asking questions."
On Site
Welcome Seminar for new ITER Arrivals
Another Welcome Seminar will be organized on 18 March to help ITER arrivals settle into their new lives in Provence quickly and comfortably. This seminar is open to all ITER staff, including those who have been here for some time but want to catch up on information about practical issues they might have missed.
The seminar is meant to be interactive with plenty of time for questions and answers. The Welcome Office is therefore organizing two sessions on 18 March, one at 8.30 a.m. and one at 1.30 p.m. at the INSTN (next to the Chateau de Cadarache) Room B2.
So if you are interested in participating, please reply to audrey.duval@cea.fr by 14 March latest and please specify whether you would like to attend the morning or the afternoon session.
--- Iris Rona
Hot Cell Workshop
The Hot Cell Working Group in action.Last week saw a two-day workshop for the design of the hot cell facility, with the goal of generating design options. The Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) to ITER recommended an action plan that was launched last December. ITER staff, representatives from the European Domestic Agency “Fusion for Energy” and advisers from external companies participated in this exercise.r.
During last week’s meeting two options were eventually taken up, both including ITER maintenance issues, functionality requirements and possible optimization. “This meeting was a step forward in a long exercise”, said Magali Benchikhoune, ITER Hot Cell & Radwaste Services Integration Section Leader. The outcome will be presented to the STAC2 Recommendations Coordination Meeting in its next meeting on 18 March 2008, during the IO–DA meeting in Aix en Provence.
The design and ultimatelyy the size of the hot cell building is driven by the special purposes and requirements of the ITER systems for remote handling and repair of tokamak components, including the management of radioactive waste generated by those processes. In simple words: It is all about the necessary size of the building allowing operation and maintenance of the ITER device. “It is a bit like building a car repair shop”, Magali Benchikhoune explains. “You want to make sure that it is reasonably big enough so that you can park the cars to be repaired, do the maintenance work and store the spares.”
Test Blankets on the Test Stand
The Test Blanket Working Group during the Meeting at the Aquabella Hotel in Aix-en-Provence.How to handle and coordinate future work on test blanket modules has been the focus of a three-day meeting of the Test-Blanket ad-hoc group last week in Aix-en-Provence. Test Blankets are one of the key reactor-relevant elements to be tested on ITER.
The key goal of the ad-hoc group, a body created to integrate the various approaches from all seven ITER Members, was to explore a time table on how to proceed with the Test Blanket Programme. “Test Blankets play an important part in developing fusion power plants and they will have to be there on the first day of ITER operation, Valery Chuyanov, ITER Deputy Director for Fusion Science and Technology, commented. “It is our job to develop an integrated research plan that allows us to study functional material behaviour, plasma behaviour, the resulting energy cycle and the tritium recycling capacity for blanket materials.”
Meeting of the Tritium Plant Project Team
Taking a break for the photographer: the Tritium Plant Project Team. Twice a year the ITER Tritium Plant Project Team convenes to discuss the integration, the various interfaces and safety issues of the ITER Tritium Plant in order to meet all the requirements for the building's layout stipulated by the regulator. The latest meeting took place in Cadarache on 28 February 2008 and was attended by delegates from all seven ITER Members. The US team participated remotely via video conference. "Great Progress was made via intense bilateral contacts with the Domestic Agencies in regards to a detailed system design that will assure safe handling and safe confinement of the tritium inventory", Manfred Glugla, Divison Head for the ITER Fuel Cycle, explained.
Links
Download ITER all-staff picture from IDM
Choose your favorite one for your photo album or screen saver: The ITER all-staff pictures that were taken in February this year can now be downloaded from IDM.
Magnets touted as fix for fusion reactor
Read the latest article in "Nature" on the ITER ELM control coils here...>>>
Newsline Editor
The ITER Newsline is produced by Sabina Griffith. Suggestions for future articles, comments and corrections, as well as items for the calendar are welcome, and can be sent to sabina.griffith@iter.org.
Director's Corner
Of Coils and Blankets
Responsible for the ITER Fusion Science and Technology Department: Valery ChuyanovAt present life in the Fusion Science and Technology (FST) Department is dominated by studies supporting the analysis of the design review issues raised by the Science and Technolgy Advisory Committee (STAC) in their November meeting. The capability of the poloidal field and central solenoid coils to provide the basic functions of establishing and controlling the specific plasma configurations and scenarios required for the ITER experimental programme is being studied through collaborations between FST, the Tokamak Department and many experts from the ITER Members. Analysis of the possible use of additional magnetic coils to create Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (hence the acronym “RMP”) as a means of suppressing Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) relies on a similar collaboration.
The department has already completed a re-examination of the fuelling and pumping capability required to support ELM control via pellet pacemaking and has collaborated with the Department of Central Engineering and Plant Support in developing an updated specification of ITER’s requirements in these areas.
During the last year’s Design Review FST worked closely with the Tokamak Department and the fusion community to redefine ITER’s strategy for the use of plasma facing materials during experimental operation. This is a subject which excites considerable controversy in the fusion community and has been the subject of many lively, and productive discussions during this period. Work is continuing in this area in order to provide input to the responses to the questions raised by STAC on this subject. Related activities include the support provided for the Dust Task Force headed by Safety and Security Division to develop a strategy for dealing with dust generated during plasma operation.
The development of the ITER Research Plan, to define in greater detail the research programme accompanying construction and the research which will be carried out once ITER plasma operation begins, is an activity launched early in the Design Review in collaboration with the fusion community. Recent activities in this area have involved a close collaboration with the Codac, Heating and Current Drive Division (CHD) to incorporate the requirements for the commissioning of the Heating and Current Drive and Diagnostic systems in the early years of ITER operation.
Assistant Deputy Director General David Campbell.The Fusion Science and Technology Department is also responsible for several activities which will integrate the expertise in the fusion communities into the ITER research programme. Recently FST has been participating in discussions with the Coordinating Committee of the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) to adapt the ITPA’s operations to the new environment for fusion research which has been created by the establishment of the ITER project. As a result of these discussions, DG Ikeda has now approved the operation of the ITPA under the ITER auspices. In addition, FST is working to develop a framework for integrated modelling of ITER plasmas that will build on the activities underway in the ITER Members. An initial workshop held in Cadarache in September 2007 showed that there was a basic agreement within this community on the priorities for future research in this area and the focus of FST’s work at present is to draft a framework agreement for collaboration in this area which can be agreed with the Members.
The final programmatic activity will, in time, become a substantial construction project in its own right: the Test Blanket Module programme, which FST co-ordinates, will lead to the construction of six special blanket modules capable of breeding tritium and generating high grade heat, which will be prototypical of those used in a fusion power plant. These will be installed in three of the ITER equatorial ports and will be subject to an extensive testing programme throughout ITER’s life. The most recent meeting of the Test Blanket Working Group (see article in this issue) was held last week in Aix-en-Provence and brought together experts in this area from all of the ITER Members to discuss progress and the planning of future activities.
Valery Chuyanov and David Campbell, Department of Fusion Science and Technology
Announcements
Post-doctoral research position in computational
modelling of tokamak plasmas
The Centre de Physique Theorique, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France is seeking a researcher with knowledge of theoretical and computational tokamak plasma physics to work within the magnetically confined plasma group at Ecole Polytechnique. The candidate will participate in the development of a hybrid code to simulate the interactions between Alfvenic modes and hot particles. This is an issue of great importance for ITER. Knowledge in the field of hot particle kinetics in tokamak plasmas would be appreciated. This position is funded by CNRS for up to 24 month. Application deadline is March 30th 2008. The candidate should have accomplished his PHD within the last 24 month.
FZ Karlsruhe hosts Summer School 2008
on Fusion Technologies
The "2nd Karlsruhe International Summer School on Fusion Technologies 2008” which will be held at the FZK, Karlsruhe, Germany from September 1-12, 2008. The Summer School is the second in a series of annual summer schools which will give an overview on key fusion technologies, their current status and on long term R&D, particularly in view of the next step beyond ITER, the demonstration power station DEMO. This international course is intended for students of engineering and physics currently in technical high schools and universities, particularly after a successful intermediate diploma, as well as PhD students and post-docs in relevant subjects.
The construction and the operation of ITER requires hundreds of highly qualified engineers and physicists and thus offers excellent career opportunities in international teams. Therefore young engineers and scientists are encouraged to participate to the Summer School and be introduced to highly challenging scientific and technical areas how they will be brought into reality in a large international project.
It is funded by the European Commission and jointly organized by the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK), Germany; Commisariat á l'Energie Atomique (CEA), France, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente (ENEA), Italy Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) AREVA NP, France.
For more information click here...
2008 ICC Workshop in Reno, Nevada
The 2008 Innovative Confinement Concepts Workshop (ICC2008) will take place June 24-27 in Reno, Nevada. The goal of the ICC program is "to advance and broaden fusion science and related plasma science and to explore alternate approaches." This year's meeting "is for presentation of results and ideas about concepts that might make large steps towards practical fusion power, complementing the important feasibility steps of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
(ITER) and the National Ignition Facility (NIF)."
Contact: Tom Jarboe (jarboe@aa.washington.edu)
For more details click here...
International Congress on Plasma Physics
The 14th International Congress on Plasma Physics "ICPP2008" will be held in Fukuoka, the central city in Kyushu Area, Japan, during September 8-12, 2008. The scope of the congress is to discuss about the recent progress and future view on plasma science, covering wide range of the aspects on fundamental plasma physics, fusion plasmas, astrophysical plasmas, and plasma applications, and so forth.
The year of 2008 marks some fifty years after the start of plasma physics, space, and fusion research activities in the world.