FRANCE 24 October 2008 High fuel prices could make 1st birthday of ITER project a notable milestone

Ground hasn't even been broken for the massive ITER experimental plasma reactor, yet record high fuel could make the first birthday of the project to establish an environmentally responsible source of essentially limitless energy a noted milestone. And the skyrocketing fuel prices could also prod government partners in the project to set aside what is described as political wrangling to make sure the reactor begins producing on time.

The seven parties to the project – European Union, Japan, China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States – represent more than half of the world's population. There have been arguments over procurement, funding and design changes that could add millions of dollars to the cost of project. If it stays on track, ground will be broken at Cardache in the south of France in 2009, and first plasma produced under a recently-revised schedule in 2018. A 20-year commissioning and operational phase follows, after which ITER will be decommissioned.

During construction, 90 per cent of the components will be contributed by the parties in kind. That means that the components are produced in the country of the party and delivered to ITER, where they are integrated in the device. In order to manage and provide their in kind contributions to the ITER project, each of the parties is establishing its own ITER domestic agency. The domestic agencies interact with the industry in their respective countries to procure the ITER components. The remaining 10 per cent of the procurements will be made directly by the ITER Organization.

The seven countries signed a Joint Implementation Agreement for a project that they described as one of the most challenging scientific undertakings of modern times on 21 Nov 2006. It came into effect on 24 Oct 2007.

As described by ITER, fusion is the process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier one. ITER says fusion, the energy source of the Sun and stars, will deliver safe and environmentally benign energy, using abundant and widely available fuel, without the production of greenhouse gases.

The fusion process itself is not a chain reaction, so there is no possibility of a ‘runaway’ reaction. The fusion process can be stopped within seconds by turning off the external fuel supply, which means that a fusion power plant can be shut down safely and very quickly.

ITER is based on the tokamak concept, in which the fusion fuel is contained in a doughnut-shaped vessel. The fuel - a mixture of deuterium and tritium, two isotopes of hydrogen - is heated to temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees, forming a hot gas plasma. ITER will be twice the size of the largest existing tokamak reactors.

The ITER Council convened its first meeting in Nov 2007, and a second in Jun 2008. Jul/08

RELATED READING:

ITER
http://www.iter.org/

Fusion reactor faces cost hikes (Nature News 12 Jun 2008)
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080612/full/453829a.html