Yutaka Kamada from Japan named ITER Deputy Director-General for Science and Technology

In announcing the selection of Mr Kamada, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi highlighted his decades of effective leadership in fusion research and strong historical ties to the ITER Project. 

“Yutaka Kamada has led multiple large fusion R&D initiatives, including the JT-60SA tokamak project—which he directed for 13 years and saw through to construction completion—and the Naka Fusion Institute (Fusion Energy Directorate, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, QST) where he is the current Deputy Director General. For years, he has been involved in shaping ITER’s research goals through participation in the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA), as Chair of the ITER Council Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC), and as a member of the Japanese delegation to the ITER Council. To have him join the ITER leadership team feels like a very natural fit.” 

In his career spanning more than four decades, Mr Kamada has developed expertise in managing and directing all stages of large tokamak projects, and in interacting with government representatives, stakeholders, industry, nuclear regulatory authorities and scientific and technical collaborators around the world. This experience will serve him well as he assures the strategic guidance and overall coordination of the scientific and technology departments at ITER and works with the people and entities responsible for the design, construction, installation, testing commissioning and operation of the machine and all associated plant systems. 

As a particular area of focus, he will have responsibility for ensuring the proper implementation of integrated technical programs, for flagging any issues that could jeopardize the on-time accomplishment of major construction and operation goals, and for ensuring a “one project – one team” approach across all scientific and technical activities. 

Following a doctorate in nuclear engineering at Tokyo University, Mr Kamada joined the Naka Fusion Institute as a research scientist for tokamak plasma experiments in JT-60. He maintained an affiliation with the Institute throughout his career, earning positions of ever-greater responsibility—Principal Scientist, Group Leader, Division Leader, Director of Advanced Plasma Research, and finally Deputy Director General (2018 to present). He was the Japanese Project Manager and the Project Leader as the Institute’s JT-60U tokamak was modified to become the Superconducting Tokamak Program JT 60SA—a major upgrade implemented by a joint Europe-Japan team that is designed to support planning for ITER operation. As a leading participant to ITPA for more than 20 years and as a contributor to many fusion program advisory boards, he has built strong relationships across the worldwide fusion community. He is the recipient of numerous research awards in Japan, and the author of 31 published papers (and co-author of another 251).

BACKGROUND TO THE PRESS RELEASE 

ITER—designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power—will be the world's largest experimental fusion facility. Fusion is the process that 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 safe, abundant and environmentally responsible energy source. 

ITER is also a first-of-a-kind global collaboration. Europe is contributing almost half of the costs of its construction, while the other six Members to this joint international venture (China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA), are contributing equally to the rest. The ITER Project is under construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, in the south of France. 

For more information on the ITER Project, visit: http://www.iter.org/.

CONTACT

Laban Coblentz  
Laban.coblentz@iter.org  
+33 4 42 17 66 17