News
ITER is ready to go
The direct way is not always the fastest, an old Chinese saying goes. Defining the design for ITER, the next big step on the way to fusion power, took several iterations as well. But now we seem to have arrived at the point where the technical baseline design can be accepted at the next Council meeting.
At its third meeting last week, the Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) expressed the view “…that IO is ready with all elements of an optimized reference design and can proceed with the task of finalizing the Overall Project Cost and Overall Project Schedule documents for the STAC, MAC and Council meetings in May and respectively June this year.”
At their last meeting in November 2007 the STAC members had identified a number of high priority technical issues that could have led to risks in the performance of ITER, such as the control of Edge Localized Modes (ELMs), the vertical stability and shaping of the plasma, the loads on the Vacuum Vessel and the Coil Cold Testing. The IO, together with the Domestic Agencies, therefore set up 13 working groups to analyze these issues and, where necessary, to identify design improvements. In less than four months members of the IO, the DAs, the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) and participants from many fusion laboratories around the world have worked tirelessly to provide options and conceptual designs to be able to show STAC that ITER is ready to go.
Overall, the STAC endorsed all the solutions the IO proposed. Some suggestions were made for further refinements to the design. In his final comment, the STAC chairman, Prof Predhiman Kaw, commended the excellent work carried out by the working groups over the past months and the proactive manner in which novel solutions to the critical issues have been sought.
Communications Group Meeting
"It feels like United Nations", Aris Apollonatos said. And the Communications Expert from the European Domestic Agency in Barcelona is right. Working for ITER, a project that spans the world and that represents more than half the world's population, that already unites colleagues from 22 nations here in Cadarache, it can feel like working for the UN.
One goal, one voice: The International ITER Communications Team (with DG Kaname Ikeda) at the first meeting in Cadarache. So it is all the more important to communicate with one voice. "ITER is a project of our time", the Head of ITER Communications, Neil Calder, put it. "But even though we are riding on a tidal wave triggered by climate change and global warming we have to define a communication strategy."
In order to define this stategy, the Communications staff from IO and the seven Domestic Agencies came together in Cadarache last week for a first in a series of meetings. After short status reports from the DAs, items as the ITER press policy, the relaunch of the ITER website, internal communications, coordination of future events and other joint activities were discussed.
Headquarters Agreement enters into force
Messengers of good news: DG Kaname Ikeda and his Special Advisor, Pascale Amenc-Antonie, with the Mayor of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, Roger Pizot. On Wednesday, 9 April 2008, the Headquarters Agreement between the ITER Organization and the French Government officially entered into force. The Agreement had been signed by Valérie Pécresse, Minister for Higher Education and Research on behalf of the French Government, and Kaname Ikeda, Director General Nominee of the ITER Organization on 7 November last year and has now been legally ratified by the French Government.
This Agreement sets out the terms of cooperation between the new International Organization and the French authorities, in particular compliance with French regulations with respect to public safety and security, environmental protection, nuclear safety and radiological protection.
On the occasion the ITER Director General Kaname Ikeda visited Roger Pizot, the mayor of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, the community that is officially hosting the ITER project. “It is a big honor for us to host ITER”, Pizot said. “Everybody here is fully committed to this unique project.”
Domestic Agencies
ITER India on the move
This month, ITER-India personnel are in the process of moving to their new office which is housed in a rented building about 20 kilometers from the present location at the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR). The new office used to house the office and workshop of a now bankrupt Ice Cream company called Dairy Den! This building will house the ITER-India personnel offices, while the ITER R&D labs of ITER-India will be in a new (yet to be constructed) lab within the IPR premises, as it will be using the existing facilities of cryogenics, power etc at IPR. The Lab will be ready in Sepember 2010.
From Ice Cream Parlour to Fusion Headquarter: The future offices of the Indian Domestic Agency.ITER-India had the second Empowered Board meeting on 14 March, 2008, in which the new rules and regulations of the organization as well as 70 new positions (17 in Administration/Finance/Services and 53 Engineers/Technicians) were approved. ITER India will then have a total staff of 120, of which 31 have already joined from IPR, with 19 more to be transferred along with the new positions.
--- Indranil Bandyopadyay, ITER India
Portrait
He’s a believer!
Fusion for Mike is not a profession. It is a vocation!Mike Wykes could be enjoying himself in a well-earned retirement from a long career in fusion, but like quite a few other scientists and engineers of “a certain age”, he is still busy making his contribution to ITER.
Mike read mechanical engineering followed by a DPhil in fluid dynamics. He started off in nuclear fission research in the UK’s fast reactor programme at Dounreay in the very north of Scotland, and moved into the fusion world of the European JET experiment in the 80s. His career included remote handling, tritium safety (preparing the safety case for the JET first tritium experiments in 1991) before becoming leader of the Vacuum Group. “I worked with a small team of professionals, all of whom interfaced really closely, so that I could make this move into vacuum technology.”
In 1992 he went to work for ITER in Naka. The move to Japan came as a surprise as he originally thought he was going to the Garching ITER site in Germany, but Mike really enjoyed his time in the Far East. Since then, he has worked more or less full time for ITER, in the UK and Japan, before finally coming to Cadarache as chief vacuum engineer in the Vacuum Group.
Asked why he’s still working hard for ITER, Mike replies that fusion research is more of a vocation than a profession. There is always something new and mentally challenging to think about. “People believe in fusion”.
--- Jennifer Hay
Fusion World
On 11 April, the French Prime Minister François Fillon (centre) visited the site of the Broader Approach (BA) activities in Rokkasho where he was welcomed by Mr. Harada, Parliamentary Secretary for MEXT. The activities of the BA were presented by Pascal Garin, the IFMIF EVEDA Project Leader.
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
Preparing for the next ITER Council
Kaname Ikeda, ITER Director GeneralRemarkable progress has been made regarding the construction of ITER: as everybody can see the site preparations are in full swing and we will soon be able to move into our offices on site.
It was in last November, at the first ITER Council, that the ITER Project Specification based on a comprehensive design review was provisionally approved. Since then a tremendous amount of work has been coordinated and executed in order to provide a mature design for ITER that reflects the issues raised by the Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) and, secondly, to prepare a reliable schedule and resource estimate. To meet these essential commitments a truly joint effort from all the ITER staff, both in the IO and the Domestic Agencies was required.
The result of this joint effort was the broad support from the STAC last week to go ahead with the proposed solutions for the major design issues (see article in this issue). We therefore hope that these suggestions will find approval at the next ITER Council meeting in June. In preparation for the ITER Council we are also finalising the integrated project schedule and the resource estimate.
In parallel with these activities, the IO Accounts for 2007 will soon be audited by the newly appointed Financial Auditing Board. IO was also requested by the Council to provide a quarterly financial report starting this year. This is yet another challenge for our administration to prove accountability and efficiency.
It is important that our progress is well understood and supported by all seven ITER Parties. This was why I recently visited Japan, India and China to explain what we are doing to the DAs and to listen to their comments. It was encouraging that my visit was well received and to get confirmation of their firm commitment to ITER.
Kaname Ikeda, ITER Director General
Links
ITER I.T.O.T.H. Party on TV
Remember the I.T.O.T.H. party when we had Aioli, Pétanque and lots of fun? The local television station "Television Luberon Provence" (TLP) has broadcast the footage they took. The video can now be downloaded here...
Wendelstein Newsletter
Recent developments at the experiment Wendelstein 7-X are published in the Wendelstein 7-X Newsletters. They are available in .pdf format; please use the link on the right hand side. Send an e-mail to w7xnewsletter@ipp.mpg.de to subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wendelstein 7-X digital mailing list.
Click here to download the Newsletter ...
Announcements
Future of Fusion Magnets
This Friday, 18 April 2008, a seminar on "'High field magnets at the Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Actual status and future opportunities for characterization of superconductors for fusion magnets" will be presented at the Salle de Conférences René Gravier, Bâtiment 506, CEA Cadarache. The Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory (GHMFL) is one of the large scale facilities of the CNRS. Measurements of superconducting properties of low Tc and high Tc superconducting wires and tapes are performed within collaborations with groups from universities, private companies and CEA (especially IRFM for the characterization of NbTi superconducting strands at variable temperature for JT-60SA and ITER). The seminar will be presented in English by Francois Debray, CNRS/LCMI. It starts at 11.00. For more information, contact: Pierrette Vatble, tél. +33 (0)442 25 62 60 or karine.ruiz@cea.fr
3rd International School of Advanced
Plasma Technology in Varenna, Italy
From 28 July 28 to 31 July 2008, the Japanese Association for Plasma Technology will host the 3rd International School of Advanced Plasma Technology in the Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy.
Click here for more information...
EU-US Transport Task Force Workshop
13th EU-US Transport Task Force (TTF) Workshop will be held from 1 to 4 September 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The TTF workshop is an international gathering of renowned scientists working in transport in magnetized plasmas. It appeals to experimentalists, modelers and theorists in this field. The workshop will encompass the topics:
Click here for more information...
Make It a French Summer
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Want to discover the region and practise your French at the same time this summer? Then please note April 22nd in your diaries. That day, from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm, the ITER Welcome Office is organizing a language school fair and a buffet lunch at the Château de Cadarache. You can meet French training schools that offer summer activities for you and your families and find the combination between activities and learning that best meets your needs, to make the most out of your summer in every sense. This is for staff and spouses and their children.
--- Iris Rona
3rd Welcome Seminar
Another Welcome Seminar will be organized on 25 April to help ITER arrivals settle into their new lives in Provence quickly and comfortably. The seminar will take place in the INSTN building (next to the Chateau) in meeting room H1 from 08.15 to 12.30 and will be followed by a buffet lunch. It 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. For any further information, please contact audrey.duval@cea.fr .
--- Iris Rona
Kayaking trip to Bendor island
The CEA Sailing Section is organizing a special Kajaking trip for ITER staff to Bandol Island on April 20th. It will start at the Bandol Sailing Club at 10.30 am (in the heart of the city). From there the group will cross over to Bendor island - 20 minutes (http://www.bendor.com). For the crossing, an instructor will come along on a Zodiac. He can arrange for childrens' transport if needed. Crossing back to Bandol is planned for early afternoon to enjoy windsurfing, boating or kayaking at the club. Beginners are welcome, basic sailing instructions will be offered in English. Bandol Sailing Club will provide the equipment, the wetsuits and life jackets. Please bring your sun glasses, caps, old shoes (for the water), sunscreen, a snack and your smile. Car sharing can be organized … please let Stéphane know if you want to join in.
La Section Voile de Cadarache
AS CEA
13108 St Paul Lez Durance Cédex
secrétariat section 04.42.25.21.63 ou 06.07.54.16.91