ITER Press Release
Cadarache, 24 October 2007
ITER Organization formally established
As of today, Wednesday, October 24, 2007 the new International Organization ITER is formally established.
On 21 November 2006 the representatives of the People’s Republic of China, EU, the Republic of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America signed the ITER Joint Implementation Agreement which since has been ratified by all seven Member Parties and will today officially enter into force.
The overall aim of the ITER Organization, implemented in Cadarache, France, is to build and operate ITER which is to demonstrate the technical and scientific feasibility of fusion power. ITER will be the first fusion facility to produce net power on a large scale. As for the experimental nature of ITER it will also test most of the key technologies that will be needed to use fusion as a future energy source and validate industrial production techniques of the large and high-quality components needed for future fusion power plants.
“Today is a notable milestone in the history of our organization”, Kaname Ikeda, ITER Director General Nominee, said on the occasion. “With ITER, a new international organization has been created. By creating ITER the nations of the world have understood the need for new sources of energy and demonstrated their commitment. Furthermore, by creating the ITER Organization our Member Parties have established a completely new model for international collaboration and it is our challenge to show that outstanding talent coming from many different nationalities can also fuse to create a dynamic workforce.”
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Notes for editors:
More information on the ITER project and fusion energy can be found on www.iter.org
For further information, please contact:
Sabina Griffith
ITER Organization
Communications
Bat 519 CEA Cadarache
13108 Saint Paul-lez-Durance
France
T: 00 33 (0)4 42 25 65 63
E: sabina.griffith@iter.org
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