newsletter
newsletter
Vol 2003 / 6
December 15, 2003

E UROPEAN F USION DEVELOPEMENT AGREEMENT

News
Issued by the EFDA
Close Support Unit
Garching

Competitiveness Council of Ministers selects European ITER site
The Council decided unanimously to amend the Commission’s negotiation directives on theestablishment of an international framework concerning ITER authorizing the Commission to put forward Cadarache (France) as the European candidate site. The Council also decided unanimouslythat the ITER European Legal Entity (ELE) will be located in Spain.
The next meeting of the Parties to the ITER agreement was held on 4 December. Three candidates for hosting ITER this site, Cadarache (France), Clarington (Canada) and Rokkasho (Japan)
have been put forward.
For more information please see:
http://www.efda.org/portal/pr_iter_site.htm

and http://www.recherche.gouv.fr/discours/2003/itercompetition.htm

P-2.5 Meeting in Vienna (4-5 December 2003)
On 4-5th December 2003, a preparatory meeting for the ministerial meeting for ITER was heldat the headquaters of the IAEA in Vienna (Austria).
Please find more details on page 2.

Contents.
.

ITER
page 2
Associations:
JET
page 3.

Associations:
MEC Romania

Associations:
IPP Greifswald
page 5.
.

ITER & the Associations:
German Industry Workshop at FZ Karlsruhe
page 6
Events:Fusion Expopage 7.

The JET ‘Trace Tritium Experiments’ (TTE) Campaign was completed successfully. It was thefirst use of tritium in JET experiments under the EFDA organisation.
Please find more details on page 3.

Minister Haigneré calls on mobilization around Cadarache candidacy
page 4.

JET successfully completes the Trace Tritium Experiments

Personality / Obituary
page 8

http://www.efda.org

On November 27, Claudie Haigneré, French Minister for Research and New Technologies, inher visit to Cadarache (France) called on mobilization around Europe's candidacy for the ITER
project in Cadarache.
At the Competitiveness Council meeting in Brussels, on November 26, C. Haigneré hadannounced: “I am delighted that Europe has come together behind Cadarache’s candidacy. This isgood news for France, for Europe and for research in general”.
The French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was glad that "Europe joins forces on a single
project in order to win the global competition".
On November 17 Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Claudie Haigneré had visited together the
Cadarache site proposed to host ITER.

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 2ITER

 Wien-Tourismus / Picture: Claudio AlessandriCommon Message from Preparatory Meeting for Ministerial Meeting for ITER
Delegations from Canada, China, European Union, Japan,
the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the UnitedStates met in Vienna on 4-5th December, 2003 to advance the
ITER negotiations. The meeting was held at the headquarters of
the IAEA; the meeting was moderated by IAEA Deputy Director
General Werner Burkart.
The delegations have achieved a major milestone in the ITER
negotiations, namely, full coverage of cost-sharing for the twocandidate sites in the European Union and Japan.
The delegations are confident that this achievement provides
the basis for reaching consensus on the preferred site at the
Ministerial Meeting for ITER.
Skyline of Vienna

The Ministerial Meeting for ITER will take place on 20thDecember, 2003 in Washington, DC.

Ninth ITER Negotiations Meeting in China
Delegations from Canada, the People’s Republic of China, theEuropean Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the RussianFederation and the United States of America met in Bejing (China)
on November 9 – 10, 2003 to continue their efforts to reach agreement on the implementation of the international fusion energy
research project ITER. This was the first such Negotiations
Meeting to be held in the People’s Republic of China, and the firstfull Negotiations Meeting attended by the Republic of Korea, which
formally joined the ITER partnership in June 2003.
In his welcoming speech to the delegations, Mr. Xu
Guanhua, the Minister of Science and Technology of thePeople’s Republic of China, emphasized the importance of the
ITER Project in the search for new sources of energy, not only
for China, but for the whole world. Mr. Xu said “ITER is the most
The Palace of Heavenly Purity - Bejing, China
significant stage in realizing the dream of creating secure, effective and clean fusion energy.”
At the Negotiations Meeting, delegates discussed a full range of legal, technical, administrative and managerial topics, including the form and the structure of the internationalorganization, staffing, resources, and risk management, which will form the basis for the
Agreement on implementing ITER and the operation of the International ITER Organization.
The Negotiators agreed that substantial progress was made on all topics, and delegations are optimistic that final decisions on the site of ITER and the cost-sharing arrangeFor more information see:ments will be in place before the end of 2003.
http://energy.gov/engine/content.do?BT_CODE=PRESSROOM> press releases> November 10, 2003

First place for ITER in the US
The US Department of Energy has put ITER in first place in its list of research facilities to be
funded in the near term.

page 3

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

JET
JET successfully completes the Trace Tritium Experiments
On 1 November, the JET ‘Trace Tritium Experiments’ (TTE) Campaign was brought toa successful conclusion. This Campaign marked the first use of tritium in JET experiments
under the EFDA organisation with the Association Euratom - UKAEA as Operator.
The experiments in TTE used tritium injected into the plasma either via gas introduction
system or in the form of high velocity neutrals from the Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) system. The fraction of tritium in the plasma was always kept at ‘trace’ levels, i.e. <1-2% of thedeuterium majority fuel. Some 25 experimental proposals gathered data during the TTE.
In total, over 160 JET pulses were supplied with tritium and there were no significant
faults on the tritium systems. The rate of DT fusion reactions is about two orders of magnitude larger than that of DD reactions, and the energy of the emitted neutrons is distinctive– 14 MeV. When the tritium ions fuse with the majority deuterium ions, the neutrons ‘tag’ themotions of the tritium particles. By observing them it is thus possible to follow particle transport of a fuel ion in
the plasma, something that is otherwise remarkably
difficult to do.
Tritium transport
has been studied
in all the foreseen
ITER
operatingscenarios, including plasmas withinternal transportbarriers, and with
scans
of
key
physics parameters such as thenormalised Larmor
radius or plasma
collisionality.

The Scientific Co-ordination for the experiments
came from staff in nine of
the EFDA Associations.
The Campaign was led byteams from ENEA (Italy),
VR (Sweden) and UKAEA.
There were also experimental neutron detector
devices installed by
Russian visitors to detect
the 14 MeV neutrons emitted by the plasma DT
reactions. This was thefirst active participation by
Russian physicists in JET
campaigns, and more
visits are planned.

Time development of spatial profile of 14 MeV neutrons (from D-T fusion)
produced following a 5 mg tritium puff into a 2.4T/2.0 MA low triangularity‘Hybrid scenario’ JET pulse.

The re-establishment of a ‘full quota’ of 14 MeV neutron diagnostics on JET was one of
the most important side benefits of this Campaign.
The amounts of tritium injected into any one plasma during this month-long experimental campaign were minute – only up to 5 mg per shot. “Although the tritium is injected insuch small quantities into the plasma, it is supplied to the machine in gram quantities thenrecovered and recycled within the system”, explained UKAEA’s Tim Jones, who led theteam undertaking the technical preparations. “Establishing this tritium supply and reprocessing capability is nearly as demanding on the JET Operator as providing the fuelling fora 50:50 Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) plasma.”

Derek Stork, Leader of
EFDA-JET Task Force DT,
said:“The use of tritium in this
precise, diagnostic, manner
will yield invaluable information on the way in which fuelwill be confined and transported in a future reactor,
and also the way in whichhigh energy tritium can provide plasma heating.”

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 4

Associations
Overall performances
Magnification < 2000
Spatial Resolution ≅ 10µm
Density Resolution > 0.5%
3-D Reconstruction Time≅ 5min.
(512 x 512x 256 voxels)
Probe Dimensions
Diameter < 40 mm
Height < 500 mm

3-D X-Ray Microtomography at MEC Romania
At the National Institute of Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics (NILPRP) Association
Euratom-MEC in Bucharest (Romania) a laboratory for microtomography was establishedduring 2001-2002 with European Community support (EFDA Newsletter, Vol. 2003/2, April
5, 2003). Its research is focused on the project ''Non-destructive analysis of fusion materials samples by X-ray microtomography'' and aims at the improvement of developing andtesting of fusion materials by employing state of the art non-destructive techniques (NDT).
X-ray-tomography as an NDT tool for fusion material samples can provide information on:

For more informationsee:
Institute of Atomic Physics
http://alpha1.infim.ro/ifa

Any questions on microtomography?
Dr. I. Tiseanu
E-mail contact:itiseanu@inflpr.ro• density variations• visualization of micro-cracks developed by mechanical/thermal cycling• permeability and pore network connectivity in porous materials• microstructure integrity of various components• accurate geometrical measurements in 3-D
Computer-aided tomography systems (figure below) are configured to take many views of theobject in order to build a 3-D model of its internal structure. 2-D slices through this volume canbe viewed as images, or the 3-D volume may be rendered, sliced, and measured directly.
For the NDT inspection of individual miniaturised samples the microtomography analysis is guaranteed for feature recognition down to a few microns. In order to examine flatcomponents, a computed laminography function was recently added. In this case objects
are imaged from an oblique direction with respect to the rotational axis to overcome someof the disadvantages of the conventional CT systems and ensures large magnification of
the region of interest.
3-D tomographic reconstructions are obtained by a proprietary highly
optimized computer code based on a modified Feldkamp algorithm. Beamhardening artefacts, the most challenging problem in high density materials inspection, are reduced by a correction method based on X-ray spectrum filtering and the linearization of the transmission curve.
The microtomographic facility is available for the EFDA Technology
Workprogramme. The activities will be focussed on implementation of suitable NDT inspection methods for the structural integrity assessment of
instrumented capsules and rigs by microtomography and experimental validation of real time micro-radiography of miniaturized samples undermechanical stress.

page 5EFDA Fusion Newsletter

Associations
WENDELSTEIN 7-X: first stellarator coils now being tested
The WENDELSTEIN 7-X stellarator will test an optimised magnetic field configuration: the quality of plasma equilibrium and confinement will be comparable to that of atokamak. With discharges lasting up to 30 minutes, WENDELSTEIN 7-X is to demonstrate the essential property of stellarators, viz. continuous operation. Thus, WENDELSTEIN 7-X will be the first step in demonstrating that fusion devices of the stellarator
type are suitable for power plants.

WENDELSTEIN 7-X
is being built at theGreifswald BranchInstitute of the
Max-Planck-Institut für
Plasmaphysik (Germany).
When completed, it will be
the largest and mostadvanced stellarator in theworld. The assembly will
start in spring of 2004.
The start of operation isplanned for the year 2010.

The technical core of the device is the coil system comprising 50 specially shaped single coils for producing the magnetic field cage confining the plasma. A further 20 planar coils
will serve to vary the magnetic field. The long pulse times involved call for the use of superconductors (niobium-titanium) for the magnets. Manufacture of the stellarator coils is being
For more information see:handled by the German-Italian consortium, Babcock Noell Nuclear GmbH/Ansaldo
Superconduttori SpA. Up to date three coils have been completed and more than half of the
http://www.ipp.mpg.de/eng/for/projekte/w7x/for_proj_w7x.htm
coils are in production. The acceptance tests for all coils are being conducted at the Low
Temperature Institute of CEA Research Centre at Saclay in France. There, each coil iscooled in a cryostat to cryogenic temperature (4 K) and energized up to the rated current.
The design margin with respect to quenching, i.e. disappearance of the superconducting
properties, is then checked. The first non-planar coil was delivered to Saclay in June. It has
successfully passed the functional tests and demonstrated therequired operational margin. The first of the 20 planar magnet
coils, which are being manufactured by the Tesla company in
the United Kingdom, was delivered at the end of October.
The production of the cryostat by the Deggendorfer Werft
company in Germany is making good progress. The cryostat
is the thermally insulating vessel necessary for the coils operating at cryogenic temperatures. The ring-shaped cryostat
with an inner diameter of about 8 m and an outer diameter ofabout 16 m, encloses the vacuum vessel equipped with about
300 ports affording access to the plasma vessel for heating,cooling and diagnostics to measure relevant parameters. The
first segment of the plasma vessel and the ports will be delivered in November for installation of the first half-module. The
appropriate two half-shells of the outer vessel will be suppliedin spring 2004, but will not be needed for installation till 2006.
Strong support for the project is being given by the
Associations of the European Fusion Programme. The
Karlsruhe Research Centre (FZK) in Germany has successfully developed and is constructing the high-power (1 MWCW) gyrotrons. A microwave power of 10 megawatts at a frequency of 140 GHz in continuous operation mode will be
installed for plasma generation and heating. The “Microwave
Heating Project” established for this purpose is coordinating
the various contributions from other Associations (CRPP,
CEA), laboratories and industry (Thalès). The design andplanning of the appropriate transmission lines are being perA sector of the plasma vessel at Deggendorfer Werft (Germany)
formed by the Institute for Plasma Research (IPF) at the
University of Stuttgart (Germany).
The superconducting bus system linking the coils with one another and with the current leads is being designed, manufactured, and installed by Jülich Research Centre(FZJ) in Germany. Tests of prototypes of the electrical connecting elements at cryogenic
temperature were successfully completed at CRPP, at PSI in Switzerland and Russia’s
Efremov Institute. An engineer from ENEA (Italy) is taking care of system engineering,
while CIEMAT (Spain), the University of Vienna (Austria) and UKAEA (UK) are helping
to supervise production. Experts from EFDA are also supporting the project in themechanical structure area.

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 6ITER & the Associations
Web pages on industry
involvement in ITER havebeen opened at the EFDA
address (http://www.efda.org).
This area is designed to
be an information point for
all the European industries
interested in future collaborations within the ITER
project.

German ITER Industry Workshop at FZ Karlsruhe
Almost one hundred participants, of which 66 represented industrial companies, gathered in Karlsruhe (Germany) on October 27-28 at the “German ITER Industry Workshop”.
On behalf of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) the meeting wasorganized by the Euratom Association Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK). The aim was
to inform German industry on the present status of the ITER planning and to encouragethem to participate in the future ITER construction.
Prof. Reinhard Maschuw, member of the FZK Board of Directors, welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of early involvement of industry in the ITER project andthe willingness of FZK to maintain the link to German industry for that purpose.
Mr. Axel Fischer and Mr. Jörg Tauss, members of the German Federal Parliament bothcalled for ITER to be located in Europe, and it was underlined that this project constitutes a
substantial multiplier effect in terms of both economic benefits and progress in science andresearch.
Dr. Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph, representing the Federal Minister of Education andResearch, supported the view, advocating a European site for ITER, and explained that
German companies have an excellent record in providing very large, complex components
and meeting performance challenges, and therefore they are in a good position
to participate in the realization of the project. Furthermore, research institutes
that are involved in fusion research should also participate significantly in theconstruction of ITER.
Dr. Günter Janeschitz explained the objectives of the workshop in moredetail and gave an introduction to the physical and technical basis of fusion as
an energy source.
Representatives of EFDA and of the European Commission explained thecurrent procedures for industries to participate in tendering actions and informed
about possible future ways to undertake work for the project. A technicaloverview of the ITER design, of the technology R&D in progress and of theachieved results was presented by representatives of ITER and EFDA.
The second day was devoted to the presentation of the experience gainedby industry in support of the ITER Engineering Design Activities and to the possible joint involvement of fusion laboratories and industrial companies in the procurement of components for ITER such as the fuel cycle system, heating systems, superconducting magnets and diagnostics.
The useful and successful collaboration between the fusion research community and industry was underlined as a good starting point for the future. The
participants from industry not only listened to the speakers but also, at the sideof the meeting, asked specific questions about their future possible involvement.
Most of the comments and questions concentrated on the time schedule to thefinal decision of ITER and on the mechanisms through which contracts will beawarded by the European Legal Entity (ELE) which will manage the European
contribution to the ITER procurements.
A small exhibition was hosted next to the conference room with information on fusion
and on industrial fusion activities.
The workshop was closed with the intention of strengthening the contacts which werestarted during the workshop and with the wish for a strong involvement of companies in the
ITER procurement process in future.
A visit to FZK was organized with tours to the large facilities: TOSKA (for superconducting coil testing), the Tritium Laboratory and the Gyrotron laboratory for W7-X and ITER.

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 7

Events
Web sites:

Rimini - Gdansk - Budapest: Fusion Expo on TourIn the month of August the Fusion Expo, the traveling exhibition of EFDA, changed its
logistics centre. After more than three years in Cadarache (France) it is now sited in Padova(Italy) under the coordination of Euratom Association ENEA - Consorzio RFX. Immediately
following the change of site, the Expo continued to tour Europe with three shows that
attracted several thousand visitors. At the end of August the fusion exhibition was hosted atthe “Quartiere Fieristico” in Rimini (Italy) at the “Meeting per l’Amicizia tra i Popoli”. The
presence at this important event was made possible through the collaboration with the
Euratom Association ENEA CNR in Milano (Italy). The Expo was displayed in the scientificpart of the meeting and was visited by approx. 9000 persons, many of them students andyoung families who were interested in knowing more about this possible new source ofenergy. It was also the first time that the Expo used its new visualization system whichallowed the showing of the film “The Starmakers” in its full 3D beauty.

Rimini:
http://www.meetingrimini.org/eng/index.php

Gdansk:http://www.hewelianum.pl/

Budapest:
http://www.millenaris.hu/index.
php?lang=en

At the beginning of September, the Expo went toGdansk (Poland) on the invitation of the “Hewelianum”
science centre. The Fusion Expo was the first event
hosted in this former fortress on the hill. In the two anda half weeks of its presence, the exhibition was visitedby, among others, 126 school groups with a total of
about 3200 persons. The attractive science centre
made it possible to exhibit the EXPO in very appealing
atmosphere. The 3D visualization system was again astrong attraction for the public.
Science is fun.
Visitor at the Fusion Expo in Gdansk

There was just enough time
for dismantling, transportation
and reassembly and, on
October 8, the Expo was officially opened in Budapest(Hungary). The local host, theEuratom Association Hungarian
Academy of Science, had managed to get an attractive locationin the Millenaris Park, right in thecentre of the town. The Expo
was integrated with additional
information on the activities ofthe Hungarian Association. Also
this exhibition was very successful and was visited byaround 80 schools with a total of2100 students and a total number of visitors of around 3500. A
very good media coverage (i.e.
press, radio, TV) was given to all
events, particularly those in
Poland and Hungary.

EFDA Associate Leader for JET Dr.J.Paméla in Gdansk giving his opening speech

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 8Personalities

On November the 12th, the 44th Royal / Shell Prize for 2003 has been
awarded to Prof. Niek Lopes Cardozo, head of fusion research at the
Association Euratom-FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen in
Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. The Royal / Shell Prize is given each year toscientists who have rendered outstanding services to the development ofsustainable energy. An independent jury, consisting of members of the RoyalDutch Society of Sciences and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, selected
Prof. Lopes Cardozo.
The jury honoured him as a creative plasma physicist of high international
reputation. Prof. Lopes Cardozo and his team look into the relation between turbulence and certain geometric resonances in a confined magnetic field. Througha novel experiment he proved that turbulent layers in the plasma are connectedwith a complete series of such resonances. The jury also acknowledged his
enthusiastic commitment for the dissemination of fusion science through the“Fusion Road Show”, an interactive presentation which was developed in 1999
to present fusion energy to college students.
There was a lot of attention given to the event by the press, and many guests attended the ceremony. In a debate with four former prize-winners, a clear consensus
emerged about the urgency of the energy problem. Jeroen van der Veer, Managing
Director of Royal Dutch / Shell Group, said: “In all respects, nuclear fusion fits in theimage of innovation. … If nuclear fusion will become the energy-option that the scientists now envision, it will have a large impact on the energy sector. This is why we follow closely the work of Lopes Cardozo and all other researchers.”

Picture: Ernst BodeRoyal / Shell Prize 2003 for Niek Lopes Cardozo

Prof. Niek Lopes Cardozo

For more information
see our EFDA website:
http://www.efda.org

and additionally
http://www.jet.efda.org
http://www.iter.org

Obituary
In Memoriam: Marshall Rosenbluth
On September 28, 2003, Prof. Marshall Rosenbluth, a towering figure in the field of
nuclear fusion and plasma physics, passed away aged 76. His life in fusion spanned
more than 50 years. Born in Albany, New York (US), he graduated from Harvard in 1946
and worked for his physics PhD at the University of Chicago. After having published theMetropolis algorithm together with a small group of Los Alamos physicists, he joined
General Atomics in San Diego in 1956 to pioneer fusion energy. Rosenbluth also helda professorship at the University of California at San Diego, joined the Institute forAdvanced Study at Princeton and directed the Institute for Fusion Studies at the
University of Texas. As a member of the ITER Joint Central Team he contributed to thephysics definition of the project. His many publications in plasma theory have influenced
nearly every aspect of plasma physics and he was awarded several prizes, such as the
US National Medal of Science and the Hannes Alfvén Prize of the European PhysicalSociety (see Newsletter September 2002).

Prof. Marshall Rosenbluth

EFDA Close Support Unit - Garching
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D-85748 Garching / Munich - Germany© M.Q. Tran (EFDA Leader) 2003.

phone: +49-89-3299-4237
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editors: Federico Casci, Doris Lutz-Lanzinger
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