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Experimental Fusion Reactor To Be Built in France

28 June 2005

Six nations collaborate on possible source of environmentally friendly power

Representatives of the six parties that are collaborating to build the world’s largest experimental fusion reactor signed an agreement in Moscow June 28 to build the reactor in Cadarache in southern France.

The United States, China, the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation and South Korea are participating in the $5 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) effort. The Department of Energy (DOE) heads the U.S. ITER delegation.

“Plentiful, reliable energy is critical to continued worldwide economic development,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in a June 28 press release. “Fusion technologies have the potential to transform how energy is produced and provide significant amounts of safe, environmentally friendly power in the future. The ITER project will make this vision a reality.”

The agreement comes after an 18-month debate about whether to locate the reactor in France or Japan. In 2003, the European Union chose Cadarache as its candidate site; the United States supported the Japanese site on technical grounds.

Nuclear energy can be used to produce electricity in two different ways -- nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. In fission, the nuclei of uranium atoms are split apart in a controlled chain reaction, creating heat and light and radiation. Commercial nuclear plants currently use fission to produce electricity.

In nuclear fusion, smaller atomic nuclei are joined to make a larger nucleus, also giving off heat and light and radiation. Scientists have been working for decades to contain a fusion reaction and harness its energy.

According to DOE, fusion energy is an attractive future energy source because it does not produce air pollution or carbon dioxide or create long-lived radioactive waste.

ITER is an effort to build the first fusion science experiment capable of producing a self-sustaining fusion reaction, called a burning plasma.

Officials say ITER will enable scientists to explore the physics of a burning plasma at energy densities close to that of a commercial power plant -- the critical next step in producing and delivering commercially available electricity from fusion to the grid.

The Bush administration considers fusion a key element in U.S. long-term energy plans because fusion offers the potential for abundant, safe and environmentally benign energy.

Additional information is available at the ITER Web site. 

Text of the DOE press release follows:

(begin text)

U.S. Department of Energy
Press release, June 28, 2005

U.S. Statements on International Fusion Reactor (ITER) Siting Decision

WASHINGTON, DC – Today in Moscow, Russia, the ministers representing the six ITER parties, including Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, announced the ITER international fusion reactor will be located at the EU site in Cadarache, France. Below are statements by U.S. government officials following the signing of the agreement at the Ministerial Meeting. The text of the announcement by the six parties is available at www.iter.org.

Statement by U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman: “Plentiful, reliable energy is critical to continued worldwide economic development. Fusion technologies have the potential to transform how energy is produced and provide significant amounts of safe, environmentally-friendly power in the future. The ITER project will make this vision a reality.”

Statement by DOE Office of Science Director Raymond L. Orbach, who represented the United States at the Ministerial Meeting: “The United States supports the decision of the parties to the ITER negotiations to conduct the international fusion reaction experiment at Cadarache, France, and the U.S. looks forward to getting ITER construction there underway as soon as practical.

“It boded well for ITER that there were two serviceable sites and six parties committed to this important fusion project. Now that the partners have agreed on a site, the ITER negotiations must also resolve an agreed-upon financial and procurement arrangement, together with a satisfactory management and oversight arrangement.

“In these negotiations, the U.S. will continue to strive for a robust management structure and an oversight program based on the principles of equity, accountability and transparency to ensure both the success of the project and the best use of taxpayer dollars.

“Fulfilling the promise of ITER will require continued international collaboration and cooperation such as that demonstrated by the six parties to the ITER talks in arriving at today’s decision.”

NOTE: Dr. Orbach will be available to speak with reporters by phone at 12 p.m.Eastern today. Reporters should call the DOE press office at 202/586-5806 for details about the conference call.

The text of Dr. Orbach’s prepared remarks at the Ministerial Meeting is available at: www.sc.doe.gov.

Background:

President Bush announced on January 30, 2003, that the U.S. was joining the negotiations for the construction and operation of a major international magnetic fusion project. Known as ITER, the project’s mission is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.

“The results of ITER,” President Bush said, “will advance the effort to produce clean, safe, renewable, and commercially-available fusion energy by the middle of this century. Commercialization of fusion has the potential to dramatically improve America's energy security while significantly reducing air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases.”

The Bush administration considers fusion a key element in U.S. long-term energy plans because fusion offers the potential for abundant, safe and environmentally benign energy. ITER will allow scientists to explore the physics of a burning plasma at energy densities close to that of a commercial power plant, the critical next step in producing and delivering commercially available electricity from fusion to the grid.

Another key advantage of fusion energy over current methods of electricity generation is that it can produce hydrogen with no carbon emissions. Thus ITER may contribute to a hydrogen-based economy of the future.

The Department of Energy has led the U.S. delegation to the ITER talks. China, the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation, and South Korea also are participating in the ITER negotiations.

There have been two competing sites to host the $5 billion test bed for harnessing nuclear fusion to generate electricity. In November 2003, the European Union selected Cadarache, France, as its candidate site; Japan’s contender was in Rokkasho. The U.S. had supported the Japanese site on technical grounds.

In July 2004, the U.S. Department of Energy announced after a national competition that the U.S. ITER Project Office will be located at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, located on Princeton University’s James Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, New Jersey.

Princeton and its partner, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, jointly operate the U.S. ITER Project Office which is responsible for project management of U.S. activities to support construction of the international research facility.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)