ITER Council: global science management

On 19-20 November 2008, the ITER Council, the Governing Body of the one year-old ITER Organization, convened for its third meeting. The two-day meeting in Cadarache brought together representatives from the seven ITER Members: China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States. ITER is a unique project whose goal is to prove the feasibility of fusion as a secure and sustainable energy source for the future.

Prior to the meeting, delegates to the ITER Council visited the 180 hectare construction site and noted the impressive progress that had been made to date in preparing the site infrastructure and support networks. They also visited the new ITER headquarters building.

The Director-General of the ITER Organization, Kaname Ikeda, reported on progress since the second meeting of the ITER Council in June. He focused on the rapid development of the Organization and the integration of the skills, experience and expectations of all the Members saying. “To keep momentum, ITER needs the collective efforts and continued support from its Members, laying the foundations for a new model of global scientific collaboration.”

The progress report from the Briscoe Review Panel, set up by the Council at its last meeting, made recommendations for the establishment of a well-founded cost and schedule baseline as well as effective management systems. It recommended a more integrated approach involving stronger cooperation between the ITER Organization and the Domestic Agencies. This higher level of integration is a crucial step for moving the project forward, streamlining management and containing costs.

An indication of the progress of the ITER project was the signature at the meeting of five Procurement Arrangements totalling 414.5 million Euros involving the European, Japanese and Korean Domestic Agencies. These signatures are essential milestones for the project and mark a substantial step forward towards construction. The Procurement Arrangements include agreement to build sections of the vacuum vessel in Korea, to manufacture Toroidal Field Magnet Windings and Toroidal Field Magnet Structures in Japan and allow for the construction of the facility for winding of five of the six Poloidal Field Coils on the ITER site, financed by the European Union. 

Approval was also given to for a Test Blanket Module Program. These modules will allow testing of concepts for achieving self-sufficiency in tritium supply for future fusion power-plants.

Council re-elected Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith as the Chair and Academician Evgeny Velikhov as the Vice-Chair of the ITER Council, to serve until the end of the calendar year 2009. Council also reappointed Mr Predhiman Kaw as the Chair and Mr Yuanxi Wan as the Vice-Chair of STAC, and Mr Robert Iotti as the Chair and Mr Gyung-Su Lee as the Vice-Chair of MAC, to serve until the end of the calendar year 2009.

For photographs of the meeting and ITER please go to:
http://www.iter.org/press_release/2008_11/images

BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS RELEASE

ITER will be the world's largest experimental fusion facility and is designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power for energy purposes. Fusion is the process which powers the sun and the stars. When light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released. Fusion research is aimed at developing a prototype fusion power plant that is safe and reliable, environmentally responsible and economically viable, with abundant and widespread fuel resources.

The ITER project is sited at Cadarache in the South of France. Europe will contribute almost half of the costs of its construction, while the other six Members to this joint international venture (China, Page 2 Japan, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA), will contribute equally to the rest.

Each Member has set up a Domestic Agency responsible for its contributions to ITER. The Domestic Agencies employ their own staff and have their own budgets, and will place contracts with suppliers to procure in-kind contributions. 

More information on the ITER project and fusion energy can be found on www.iter.org