About ITER
External Links
Domestic Agencies of the member states
ITER (latin for “the way”) is an international Tokamak research and engineering project designed to prove the scientific and technological feasibility of a full-scale fusion power reactor. It is an experimental step between today’s studies of plasma physics and future electricity-producing fusion power plants.
The heart of ITER is a superconducting Tokamak facility with striking design similarities to JET, but twice the linear dimensions. It will have a plasma volume of around 840 m3. It is designed to produce approximately 500 megawatts of fusion power sustained for more than 400 seconds. ITER will be the first fusion experiment with an output power higher than the input power.
Seven participants join the ITER project: the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, the Russian Federation and the United States of America. In November 2006, the participants formally agreed to fund the project. The Members states have all established Domestic Agencies to act as mediators between their national governments and the ITER Organization. The European Domestic Agency “Fusion for Energy” represents 27 Member States of the European Union, Euratom and Switzerland as a third country.
The ITER programme is anticipated to last for 30 years — 10 years for construction, and 20 years of operation. It will be based in Cadarache, France. Since 2007 it is technically ready to start construction and the first plasma operation is expected in 2019.
Siting ITER in the European Union is an honour for the European fusion community. Europe, with its broad fusion programme is well-prepared for this commitment.
