The role of EFDA

One of the activities of EFDA is to coordinate the European contribution to large scale international collaborations, such as the ITER-project. These activities are performed in the "Next Step" programme, which is part of the EFDA Technology Programme.

The "Next Step" activities at EFDA aim to develop the technologies that will allow Europe and its international partners to build ITER, which would demonstrate the mastery of the physics involved in producing energy from fusion in an experiment that already incorporates some of the essential technologies for a fusion power plant. The work in this Programme aims at fully validating the ITER design, and at making manufacturing methods better and more cost-effective.

A detailed description of the EFDA technology programme is given here.

Several fusion devices in the EU have contributed - and are still contributing - to the knowledge base needed for ITER. The Joint European Torus (JET) plays a unique role because the plasma it can produce has the closest similarity to the future plasma in ITER. The joint use of the JET-facilities, now under EFDA, has provided knowledge on plasma physics and plasma engineering, and has contributed in demonstrating high-performance modes of operation relevant for ITER. JET also contributes in tackling several ITER technology issues, and is used to study advanced remote handling, tritium technology, and plasma-facing materials and components.

To evaluate European proposals for the ITER site, the European ITER Site Study Group (EISS Group) was established by the EFDA Steering Committee. The task of the EISS Group was to contribute to ITER Site issues, together with the ITER International Team and with the involvement of the fusion Associations and European Industry. The results of the EISS Group for the Cadarache site, the final location of ITER, can be found here.