The Final Design Review for ITER's liquid helium (LHe) plants was held on schedule and on budget at ITER Headquarters from 12 to 14 November. This important project milestone now opens the way for helium plant manufacturing to begin.   The ITER superconducting magnets and cryosorption panels operate under extremely cold conditions (-269 °C, or 4.5 °C above absolute zero). At such temperatures helium is the only option, remaining in a liquid state when oxygen, nitrogen and even hydrogen would freeze.   The LHe plants—by providing a total average cooling capacity of 75 kW at 4.5 K, corresponding to a cumulated liquefaction rate of 12,300 litres per hour—make ITER a world-class helium liquefaction facility.   The plants will be able to refrigerate 10,000 tonnes of ITER magnets (as a point of reference, the metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,500 tonnes). The plants will also provide liquid helium to the cryosorption panels, whose role it is to evacuate helium ash from the fusion reaction and to ensure the required vacuum for one of the largest vacuum systems ever built (cryostat: 8,500 m³, vacuum vessel: 1,400 m³).   The Final Design Review for ITER's liquid helium (LHe) plants was held on schedule and on budget at ITER Headquarters from 12 to 14 November 2014. The contract for the LHe plants was awarded by the ITER Organization to Air Liquide advanced Technologies (ALaT) in December 2012. Since then, ITER Organization Cryogenic System Section and Air Liquide have teamed up to design a system tailored to the needs of the magnets and cryosorption panels. The system is designed for all operation phases, from warm state to cold operation, and will be able to handle the large load fluctuation resulting from magnet current pulses and cryosorption panel regeneration.   The integration of the plants in the ITER environment was also a challenge. A building the size of a football field (45 x 120 m) will house the three identical LHe plants that will work in parallel. Within the 5,400 m² Cryoplant Building, more than 3,000 m² are reserved for the LHe plants.   The design reviewed last week covered all interfaces with utilities such as electricity and water, for which the LHe plants will be one of the major users. In order to compress the cycle gas, the LHe plants will require about 24 MW (the approximate electrical needs for European city of 25,000 habitants); while removing the heat resulting from this compression will require 1,800 m³/h of cooling water (the approximate volume of one Olympic swimming pool per hour).   To enhance the overall system efficiency, a heat recovery system has been implemented to recover about 12MW that will be used to warm ITER buildings and offices. Savings analysis in terms of cost and energy has demonstrated the benefits of the heat recovery system.   The key components, including the turbo-expanders and the brazed aluminium heat exchangers, are housed in "cold boxes"—large vacuum vessels that will provide the insulation required for operation. Each 4.2 x 21 metre cold box will weigh about 135 tonnes once all internal components are integrated. After 21 months of studies and the combined efforts of the ITER and Air Liquide teams, the design of the LHe plants has reached sufficient maturity to move forward to the manufacturing phase.   The Final Design Review was the opportunity to demonstrate the quality and thoroughness of the work performed during the design phase. Representatives from the ITER Organization, Air Liquide advanced Technologies, the European Domestic Agency, and ITER India reviewed all aspects of the design from process calculations and equipment selection to 3D models.   The LHe plants will rely on a total of 18 large oil screw compressors that will be manufactured in Japan, 12 cryogenics turbo-expanders from France, and high efficiency aluminium brazed heat exchangers (France). The cold key components, including the turbo-expanders and the brazed aluminium heat exchangers, are housed in "cold boxes"—large vacuum vessels that will provide the insulation required for operation. Each 4.2 x 21 metre cold box will weigh about 135 tonnes once all internal components are integrated. The three cold boxes will be assembled at the Air Liquide Advanced Technologies workshop in France.   Story developed with the collaboration of Frederic Andrieu, project director at Air Liquide advanced Technologies (ALaT).

The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility, IFMIF, is one of the projects launched under the Broader Approach Agreement, a partnership in fusion energy research between Europe and Japan. IFMIF is an accelerator-based neutron source that produces, using deuterium-lithium nuclear reactions, a large neutron flux similar to that expected at the first wall of a fusion reactor. Two important milestones were recently achieved at the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc): the accomplishment of the first hydrogen plasma in the ionization chamber, and the first extraction of an ion beam (H+). Both were important achievements for the LIPAc team. After the accomplishment of the widely anticipated first plasma, extensively reported in Japanese media, further commissioning allowed a proton beam of 100 keV and 100 mA to be obtained. The prospects are now excellent to reach the target of extracting a current of 140 mA of 100 keV D+ ions in the forthcoming commissioning phase with deuterium. The LIPAc team in Rokkasho, Japan, has successfully accomplished the first hydrogen plasma in the ionization chamber and the first extraction of an ion beam (H+). The Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been responsible for the procurement of the LIPAc conventional systems, such as the accelerator building, the secondary cooling system, and the machine and personnel protection system. Europe's contribution, coordinated by Fusion for Energy, has been delivered by the European countries who are voluntarily contributing to the Broader Approach. The LIPAc injector was developed and manufactured by the French Atomic and Alternative Energies Authority (CEA Saclay). It has been successfully installed in Rokkasho, Japan, and is now under commissioning. See the IFMIF website for more information. 

Alexander Victorovich Bychkov joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy in February 2011. Before he joined the Agency, Mr Bychkov worked on molten salt chemistry, the chemistry and technology of actinides and nuclear fuel, and all aspects of fast reactor fuel cycles. At the recent IAEA Fusion Energy Conference in St. Petersburg, Newsline had the opportunity to talk to him about the Agency's involvement in fusion research and development.   Mr Bychkov, can it be said that nuclear fusion has been part of the IAEA's mission since the very beginning?   That is correct; the IAEA is proud to have played a constructive role in the history of nuclear fusion research. The Agency's motto "Atoms for Peace," coined by US President Dwight Eisenhower in his address to the UN General Assembly on 8 December 1953, has always had a special meaning for nuclear fusion: the obligation to work for the preservation of peace itself, and at the same time to work towards the peaceful use of nuclear fusion for the generation of energy.   The first Fusion Energy Conference (FEC) took place in 1961, in Salzburg, Austria. Seven years later, in 1968, the fusion community convened in Novosibirsk where some breaking news from the T3 Tokamak became part of fusion history. In 2014, for its 25th edition, the FEC returned to Russia, this time to St. Petersburg. What are your thoughts about this?   The 2014 FEC conference was only the second of 25 to take place in Russia. As you mentioned, at the 1968 conference in Novosibirsk some amazing results from the Russian T3 Tokamak (Kurchatov Institute) were presented—a confined plasma with electron energies up to 1 keV, corresponding to temperatures of more than 10 million degrees. This surprising and crucial result led to a global shift in nuclear fusion research towards the use of tokamaks. In Europe, this ultimately led to the design and construction of the Joint European Torus, JET, while in the US it led to the TFTR tokamak and in Japan to the JT60 tokamak. These machines, in turn, became the technological predecessors of today´s ITER Project.   And yes, St. Petersburg is a very special place for us Russians as it was the setting for three Russian revolutions: the revolution in 1905 and the uprisings in 1917 (to me these were three revolutions). So, perhaps we can see the 25th FEC conference as a symbolic event, where scientists and engineers met to talk about a technological revolution.   What is the IAEA's current involvement in fusion?   We are not in the position to play a leading role in the scientific and technical development, but we collect and distribute information and we facilitate collaboration. For example the FEC conference that the Agency organizes every two years is the largest of its kind. Likewise, we publish the leading journal on fusion, the Nuclear Fusion Journal, and offer an important resource to researchers, the FENDL database. We organize some research activities through our Coordinated Research Projects and carry out training activities, for example joint experiments at a tokamak—in particular for researchers from developing countries. We try to ensure that developing countries remain in touch with developments in fusion research by making sure that their researchers can participate in conferences and meetings.   Do you see interest from other nations to join the fusion community?   Yes, a number of developing countries attended the 25th FEC conference, such as Nigeria or Thailand, who as yet do not have fusion programs. These countries have an interest in fusion technology and, in view of the current effort to build up the educational level in many of these countries, some will join the fusion community sooner or later.   The IAEA is also very much engaged in activities for DEMO, the next step after ITER. How do you see the IAEA's role in this development effort?   Our Member States underline every year that fusion is considered as the future of nuclear power. While we do not yet consider fusion as a real part of the energy mix before 2050, it is part of our projections of nuclear power.   With regard to DEMO we are increasing our activities. We have started a new DEMO Workshop Series that brings together about 80 experts from around the world once a year. For the future we hope that the Agency can play a similar constructive role for DEMO as we have for ITER—even if DEMO will not be a single project, but rather a collection of projects. We do see it as part of our mandate to help make fusion power a reality.

​Science writer Daniel Clery visited the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) recently to talk about his book on the history of fusion, A Piece of the Sun. The book tells the story of the quest for fusion energy, from the discovery of nuclear fusion as the Sun's power source in the early 20th century through to the latest advances in magnetic and laser fusion research as the glittering prize of near-endless energy gets closer. It is a compelling account of the ups and downs of the research, the events and personalities involved, and the science of fusion. Daniel gave a lecture at CCFE on the "Many Faces of Fusion," based on the book. View the conference and interview on the CCFE website.

​Editors of Foreign Policy magazine have named fusion physicist Rob Goldston, a Princeton University professor of astrophysical sciences and former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), to its list of "100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2014." The recognition, made 17 November at a celebration in Washington, D.C., honoured Goldston for his contributions to the field of nuclear arms control. Founded in 1970, Foreign Policy focuses on global affairs, current events and domestic and international affairs. It produces daily content on its website, ForeignPolicy.com and publishes six print issues annually. Named with Goldston were Princeton physicist Alex Glaser and Boaz Barak of Microsoft Research New England. The researchers have designed a novel process called a "zero-knowledge protocol" for verifying that nuclear weapons to be dismantled or removed from deployment contain true warheads. Goldston and Glaser are developing a prototype system at PPPL that will test the idea by beaming neutrons at a non-nuclear test object.   Photo: Alex Glaser, left, and Rob Goldston, seen here with a non-nuclear test object.   Read more on the PPPL website.