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The Organization
The realization of ITER: Testimony to the perseverance of scientists and politicians around the world.
The ITER Agreement brings together the People's Republic of China, the European Atomic Energy Community (via EURATOM), the Republic of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America in an international collaboration to establish fusion as a new source of energy.
Conceptual design work for the fusion project began twenty years ago, in 1988, followed by increasingly detailed phases until the final design for ITER was approved by the Members in 2001. Further negotiations established the Joint Implementation Agreement detailing the construction, exploitation and decommissioning of ITER, as well as financing, organization and staffing. Truly unique international cooperation has been necessary at every stage on the road to ITER.
The Members of the ITER Organization will bear the cost of the project through its 10-year construction phase, and its 20-year operational phase before decommissioning. The cost is estimated at 10 billion euros over the full course of its lifetime. With respect to the construction of the ITER machine, most of the components will be contributed by the Members in-kind - that is to say the Members will contribute the components themselves, rather than financing for them.
The ITER Organization is currently in its third year of operation. The Director-General of the Organization is Kaname Ikeda, a nuclear engineer and former Ambassador of Japan to Croatia. Mr. Ikeda brings extensive experience in the management of large-scale high technology projects and international cooperation to the ITER Organization.
ITER. "The Way" in Latin. Launched as an idea in 1985, the ITER Organization now employs 450 people and is poised to begin building the ITER machine.