newsletter
newsletter
Vol 2005 / 2April 5, 2005

E UROPEAN F USION DEVELOPEMENT AGREEMENT

News
Issued by the EFDA
Close Support Unit
Garching

Competitiveness Council - 7 March 2005
The Council took note of the information given by Dr. Janez Potočnik, Commissioner
for Research, on the progress report of the international negotiations relating to the
future construction of an international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER). The
Council will reconsider this question at its next meeting on April 18.
For a recorded version of the press conference see our website: http://www.efda.org
Please find the Conclusions (in French only) on:
http://www.eu2005.lu/en/actualites/conseil/2005/03/07Compet/index.html
Commissioner Potočnik opens fusion expo in Ljubljana

Contents• Visits at JET
page 1/2• News:Fusion in theEuropean Parliament
page 3• Associations:
TEKES ITER remote
maintenancepage 4/5• Events:
Course at ENEA Frascati / Public Information Group meeting
page 6• Events:
Public Information
Group Meeting
page 7

On 21 March, the Open Days of the Josef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia)
were launched, including an exhibition of European fusion by the European Commission. This exhibition presents interactive exhibits, information and a 3D film on the European research programme on fusion energy. Slovenia (and Poland) will this year sign
Contracts of Association which will allow the smooth integration of their fusion researchexperts into the the European programme. “This exhibition and these Open Days reachout to a wider public, showing the importance of fusion energy for our future.”, said European Commissioner Dr. J. Potočnik, who was present at the launch. “I hope that thisevent and others like it will help attract our next generation to science and technology,
by showing its usefulness for our daily lives.”
Commissioner Potočnik visits JET
The European Commissioner for Research, Dr. Janez Potočnik, made his first visit
to the JET facilities on 3 March together with Members of Cabinet, Mr. Matjaz Malgaj,
Mrs. Charlotte Haentzel and his spokeswoman Mrs. Antonia Mochan. The Commissioner was given a presentation by Prof. Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith (Chairman of the
EURATOM Consultative Committee for Fusion, CCE-Fu) on fusion and the Fast Track.
Prof. Carlos Varandas (Chairman of the EFDA Steering Committee) presented EFDA
and the role of the Associations in the fusion programme followed by a presentation on
JET by Dr. Jérôme Paméla (EFDA Associate Leader for JET).
After touring the JET facilities, which included a visit to the Torus Hall, Remote Handling and Tritium Storage facility, Dr. Potočnik addressed about 150 fusion scientists
working at Culham. The speech was also broadcasted to other EFDA partners including amongst others CEA Cadarache and the Associations EURATOM-IPP Garching,
Lisbon and Prague through the JET computer network system and internet.
Continuation page 2☞• Events:
Fusion Road Shownominatedpage 8

http://www.efda.org

From left to right:
Prof. Sir C. Llewellyn Smith, Prof. C. Varandas, Prof. A. Bradshaw, Dr. J. Potoč nik,
Dr. J. Paméla, Prof. M. Q. Tran.

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 2News
Find the full version of the
speech at:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/press
ReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/05/133&format=
HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en☞ continuation from page 1
Speaking about energy, the Commissioner said “(…) we should strive to have a sustainable energy mix. Fusion energy is certainly one of the major elements of this mix that
we should be working to place at the disposal of future generations.” He went on to say that“in many respects the European Fusion Programme is a model for the European Research
Area. The experience the EU has gained in managing a highly complex scientific and technological programme such as JET gives us confidence to embark, in partnership with theleading fusion programmes throughout the world, on the next step towards the realisation offusion.” And about ITER he made it clear that “We spared no effort to find consensus among
the six negotiating parties to realise ITER at Cadarache. (...) I have proposed to our Japanese partners to sit together and find an acceptable compromise at the high political level.”
A meeting with the chairmen of all Fusion Committees and the EFDA Leadership, led by Dr.
Alexander Bradshaw, chairman of the Group of Chairmen (GoC), concluded the afternoon visit.

The Portuguese Secretary of State for Science and Innovation visited JET
On February 4 the Portuguese Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, Mr. Pedro
Sampaio Nunes and the Head of his Cabinet, Mr. Pedro Cardoso e Cunha, visited the JET
facility. Mr. Sampaio Nunes was welcomed by Dr. Jérôme Paméla, the EFDA Associate
Leader for JET, Prof. Carlos Varandas, the Chairman of the EFDA Steering Committee andHead of the Research Unit of the Association EURATOM Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST),
Dr. Frank Briscoe, the Senior Manager of the JET Operations Contract and the members of
the Portuguese EURATOM Association currently on the JET site Drs. Paula Belo, Duarte
Borba, Bruno Gonçalves, Sebastian Hacquin, Filomena Nave, and Isabel Nunes. An introduction to the European Fusion Programme and EFDA was presented by C. Varandas, while J. Pamela gave a presentation on
the role of JET, emphasising its unique capabilities for the preparation of ITER. D. Borba gave an overview of the involvement of
IST in JET. The UKAEA fusion activities on the Culham site were
described in a presentation by Mr. Frank Briscoe. The presentations were followed by a tour of the JET facility, which allowed thedelegation to visit the remote handling facility, the torus hall andthe microwave reflectometer diagnostic hardware installed in the
diagnostic hall. An upgrade of this diagnostic is being performed
under an enhancement lead by the Association EURATOM IST.
Mr. Sampaio
Nunes
showed great interest in thefusion programme and in thescientificandtechnical
exploitation of JET under
EFDA. He was also very
pleased to see the hardware
From left to right: Dr. F. Briscoe, Dr . J. Paméla, Mr. P. Sampaio Nunes,developments carried out in
Prof. C. Varandas, Mr. P. Cardoso e Cunha, Dr. D. Borba.
collaboration with IST. Mr.
Sampaio Nunes and Mr. Cardoso e Cunha had lunch with the welcoming party where
issues raised by the Portuguese young scientists werediscussed, such as employment opportunities and careerprospects in scientific research. The Portuguese Secretary of State for Science and Innovation was particularly
impressed by the participation of IST staff in the JET
campaigns and the dedication and enthusiasm shown by
the IST scientists working at JET.

From left to right: Dr . J. Paméla, Mr. P. Sam

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 3News
Fusion in the European Parliament
In the week of 24-28 of January the European Parliament was the scene of a fusion dinner-debate and an exhibition on ITER and fusion energy. The events were organised by
M. Beurskens of the Association EURATOM FOM-Rijnhuizen (The Netherlands), together
with K.-H. Steuer and S. Girten of the Association EURATOM-IPP Garching (Germany).
Almost 90 guests gathered in the Members Salon at the European Parliament on
January 25 for a special dinner-debate on the role of fusion in the future energy mix. Amongthe guests were about 30 members of the European Parliament from many countries, anequal number of distinguished guests from the European fusion community, and a numberof representatives of the European Commission, the World Energy Council and the Dutch
ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs. The event was hosted by the Dutch MEP Dr. D.
Corbey, who also gave the opening and closing addresses, inwhich she stressed the need to be clear about the return on investment and potential spin-offs of fusion research. Prof. N. Lopes Cardozo, head of fusion research at FOM-Rijnhuizen, acted as chairman. He introduced the energy problems of the modern world in ashort speech.
After the starter, Prof. Sir C. Llewellyn Smith, director of the
Association EURATOM-UKAEA, addressed the current developments of fusion research and the role of ITER towards sustainable
and commercial exploitation of fusion power. He pointed out that
fusion is among the very few options that can contribute significantly to a truly sustainable energy system, and that all options require
Lively discussion: The sponsor of the dinner-debate, the Dutch
an increased level of funding. After the main course, Prof. J. Li,
MEP Dr. Dorette Corbey, and Prof. Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith
Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academyof Sciences, spoke about China's economic ambitions, and its growing energy needs. “China wants to be among the first nations to employ commercial fusion
power,” he said. Li explained that at the moment, China is the second largest CO2 producing country, and already the world second largest oil importer. Li spoke words of praiseto the European governments for their far-sightedness in spearheading the development offusion energy. Between the courses, lively discussions were heard at the dinner tables. The
general opinion that arose from the plenary discussion was very supportive of fusion, withquestions mainly focusing on matters of finance and spin-off.
In the same week that the Dinner Debate was held, an exhibition was held at a central location in the European Parliament. Itfeatured the Fusion Road Show, the ITER model and other Fusion
Expo items, and introductory posters. The exhibition was set up
and manned by colleagues from the EURATOM Associations
UKAEA, ERM, HAS, ENEA, and FOM, together forming a very
good representation of the European fusion programme.

mpaio Nunes, Prof. C. Varandas

The exhibition drew about 400 visitors, among them many
MEPs or their assistants. Generally, the visitors were genuinely
interested in fusion energy, and engaged in discussion with thecrew of the fusion exposition. The general perception was that theenergy problem has significantly risen on the political agenda, thatpeople start to realise the full proportion of it, and are quite willingto consider new technologies, in particular fusion. Some 800
Fusion CD-Roms and 400 brochures on fusion were handed out.

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 4

Associations
Tampere is Finland's
second largest city (Population 200,000) locatedapprox. 180 km north ofHelsinki and a major
centre for research,development, educationand industry.

Finland launches major initiative in support of ITER remote maintenanceOn the 22 February 2005 VTT Industrial Systems hosted a press conference toannounce the launch of a Remote Operation Virtual Reality Centre (ROViR) to be set up in
VTT's Tampere site. ROViR is being established as a joint
venture between VTT Industrial Systems and TUT IHA(Tampere University of Technology, Institute of Hydraulics
and Automation), both located on the same technology
campus. The establishment of the ROViR Centre has beenstrongly influenced by the EFDA Remote Handling (RH)
programmes and was triggered by EFDA's decision in October 2004 to locate its new RH test facility, the Divertor Test
Platform (DTP 2, see facing page), in Tampere. Formal
responsibility for hosting the facility will rest with the Association EURATOM-Tekes. However, day-to-day responsibility for its construction and operation will be carried out by
VTT Industrial Systems and TUT IHA, who are members of
ROViR press conference
the Tekes research unit.
The plan for the ROViR Centre is to develop it into a leading European centre in the fieldof advanced robotics, remote handling and mobile robotics systems. Initially, the major
activities are likely to center around the DTP2, but the ROViR Team have ambitious plansto engage industry and aim to develop into an organisation employing some 100
researchers of which at least 30% should originate outside Finland. The Executive directorof VTT Industrial Systems, Jouko Suokas, explained that “As well as serving the remotehandling needs of ITER, we want to expand and develop the use of Virtual Reality (VR)tools throughout industry and help it to meetthe dramatic changes in development anddesign methods likely to occur. In fact, we
believe that the use of this technology inmanufacturing over the next decade is likely tohave an impact of similar magnitude to the
CAD / CAM revolution in the 1980´s”.

The key persons behind the establishment of the the ROViR Centre and the DTP2
project (from left to right): Arto Timperi (ROViR manager), Martti af Heurlin (Deputy
Director general of the Finnish National Technology Agency - Tekes), Jim Palmer (EFDA
Responsible for Remote Handling activities), Jouko Suokas (Executive Director of VTT
Industrial Systems), Prof. Matti Vilenius (Director of TUT IHA), Mikko Siuko (TUT IHA
Responsible for fusion activities), Seppo Karttunen (HRU Association EURATOM-Tekes)
and Michael Pick (EFDA Field Co-ordinator Vessel/In-Vessel)

When asked why EFDA chose Tampere
for the DTP2 site, Michael Pick (EFDA Field
Co-ordinator) replied: “Apart from the strong
working relationship we have developed with
Finland over the years, what we have here [inTampere] is the presence of a stable and wellestablished technical infrastructure within
VTT, coupled with a source of young andenthusiastic engineers from TUT. Young
engineers who we hope will develop throughtheir experiences with DTP2 to help satisfy the
future staffing needs of ITER. A second major
point in Tampere's favour was the desire tothink beyond the DTP2 itself and seek to create a much larger centre for the developmentof technologies related to remote handling.
This will be good for Europe, good for industry
and ultimately good for ITER.”EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 5

Associations
For more information on
ITER Remote Handlingsee:

The DTP2 facility
Within the framework of the ITER EDA, the subject of remote exchange of the ITER
divertor has almost entirely been dealt with by the EU and the development and supply of
divertor remote handling (RH) equipment is expected to be a 100% EU contribution to ITER.
Prior to July 1998 the EU's commitment to the topic of divertor handling manifested itself inthe construction of the Divertor Test Platform (DTP) at the ENEA Research Centre, Brasimone, Italy. This facility was designed to bring together and demonstrate the main RH activities required for divertor exchange in the ITER'98 machine and in many areas this was
successfully achieved. In moving to the ITER 2001 design however, although the general
concepts for divertor RH remained intact, the design of most of the divertor handling equipment has significantly changed. For instance, due to dramatic space reductions inside themachine, the simple “trolley-like” radial cassette carriers modeled at Brasimone are now obsolete. Instead, cassettes must be handled in a cantilevered manner using a “Cassette Multifunctional Mover (CMM)” fitted with a number of specialised end-effectors. In response tothese significant design changes, it was decided to construct a new divertor RH test facility
designated “DTP2” in order to test prototypes of the new ITER 2001 divertor handling devices.

http://wwww.iter.org/
and follow the path:>> What?
>> Design>> Main Features>> Remote Handling

For information on real
Remote Handling operations inside the JET Tokamak see:
http://www.jet.efda.org/

and follow the path:>> JET>> Remote Handling

Initially the DTP2 will be configured to demonstrate handling of second cassettes (thoselocated immediately on either side of the access port) using a prototype CMM and Second
Cassette End-Effector (SCEE), whose reference design has been developed by TUT (Tampere University of Technology) IHA. Therefore for Phase I operations, the DTP2 facility willcomprise a partial vessel mock-up with radial and toroidal rail sections just sufficient to allow
central and second cassette operations. The facility will be equipped with a CMM and SCEE
prototype plus a cassette mockup accurately replicating themass, Centre of Gravity, stiffness and the mechanical interfaces of the real ITER cassette.
Procurement contracts toindustry for the supply of theabove will be placed during
2005 with the aim of having an
integrated system in place by
the end of 2006.
During 2007 and 2008 a
second phase of DTP2 development is planned whereby thefacility will be extended in thetoroidal direction to allow for
testing of further prototypes,
such as the “Cassette Toroidal
Mover (CTM)”.
Based on the current ITER
schedule, the design of themovers for ITER should be
frozen during 2009 in order toproperly specify the real ITER
systems needed for first assembly of the Tokamak in 2013.

CMM and SCEE
reference design

Overview of the DTP2 facility during Phase I operations

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 6

EventsCourse on “Global and local control of tokamak plasmas”
Directors of the Course areDrs. F. De Marco and
A. Pizzuto of ENEA Frascati
For any inquiry you cancontact Mrs. M.L. Sansovini
Tel.
Fax

+39 06 9400 5602
+39 06 9400 5147

E-mail: Sansovini@frascati.enea.it

The course, taking place on November 8-14 2005 is aimed at training scientists andengineers by giving an exhaustive presentation of arguments and projects related to controlof thermonuclear plasmas. There will be also time for discussions, analysis and comparisons of different lines and solutions in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The Course isheld in the framework of the “International School of Fusion Reactor Technology “ located at
the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture (Erice, Sicily, Italy). The
programme of the Course includes the following topics: equilibrium, VDE, disruptions,
Current Drive, Neoclassical Tearing Modes, Resistive Wall Modes, ELMs.
In the Course each subject will have lectures dedicated to physics and lectures dedicated to control techniques and experimental results. You can get information on the Course
visiting the site http://www.isfrt-erice.enea.it.

5th Public Information Group meeting at CEA Cadarache
The European Union and Japan are still deadlocked over where to build ITER, the world's
largest nuclear fusion facility. But the European flag has already been flown on the proposed
European ITER site at Cadarache, when the Public Information Officers met to discuss tools
and plans to prepare a good understanding for fusion among the European public. On March
2-3 2005 the Public Information Group, consisting of 27 full and part time representatives
from the EURATOM Associations and several European Universities, held its annual meetingin the “Château” at Cadarache (France), hosted
by CEA under the auspices of EFDA.
In his opening speech Dr. Michel Chatelier,director of the CEA Controlled Fusion
Research Department, welcomed the participants and reminded them about their important role to communicate fusion to the public.
During the meeting the attendees debatedthe PI activities carried out in 2004 and theplans for 2005 and also focused on specifictopics, such as ITER, education and theFusion Expo. Questions were answered andnew proposals for the PI strategy were discussed. A large part of the meeting aimed at
identifying the main activities due to belaunched once the ITER construction isagreed. Lots of tutorial material to support thedevelopment of a positive public opinion on
fusion has been prepared so far throughout
the Associations and EFDA: brochures andbooklets in different languages, a CD-Rom,films and video material, the EFDA Newsletter,as well as posters etc.
The PuEFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 7The EFDA participation in EIROFORUM and the Fusion Road Show,
performed by the Association EURATOM-FOM, has been an important
issue in the field of education during the last year. Within the EIROFORUM
framework EFDA will not only be present at the Science on Stage festival
in November 2005, but will also take part in the definition of a new Journal
which should address the needs of science teaching across Europe. The
Fusion Road Show has proved to be an important tool to communicate
fusion in an entertaining way not only to schools, but also to politicians.
The attendees agreed that a video version of this show should be
prepared to be shown all over Europe at specific fusion events. Many educational activities have been carried out in the Associations so far, like girls
days, summer workshops, school visits etc., but the positive message
about fusion being part of the future energy mix has to be further communicated to the young generations, to satisfy their will to know.
A powerful tool not only in the education area, but also for the public
and the politicians is the Fusion Expo, the successful itinerant exhibition
Dinner presentation: Yvan Capouet (European Commission,
on fusion research run by Consorzio RFX Padova (Italy) on behalf ofright) and Dr. Michel Chatelier (director of the CEA's
EFDA. In the year 2004 the Expo stopped in some Eastern European
Controlled Fusion Research Department)
towns, such as Poznan, Krakow, Warsaw, Riga and Sofia and many moreare planned in 2005. In parallel to the displays, the Expo is also being fully redesigned incooperation with external professionals, so that a more modern and appealing look will beavailable at the end of this year.
A special session of the meeting was dedicated to present the procedures of the Public
Debate for “ITER in Provence”, which is being prepared by the Association EURATOM-CEA
according to a new French law existing since the year 2002. The objective of the debate,
which will develop over four months, is to launch an overall discussion on the presence of
ITER in the Provence. An independent commission appointed by the “Commission
Nationale du Débat Public” (CNDP) will be in charge of surveying this process and provide
a final report. The result of the debate, together with the input from the project owners, will
be used as basis to get the the final licensing of the plant. It is expected that the publicdebate will create a relationship of trust with the population in the four departments close to the ITER site.
The Associations were invited by Jean-Michel
Bottereau (CEA) to take more active part in the
preparation of the site, contributing with ideas andsuggestions to the preparation of the future ITER
visitors center.
As a representative from the European Commission Yvan Capouet, head of Unit in Directorate Energy,
confirmed the strong support by the Commission for
ITER being built at Cadarache. He proposed that themain objectives of PI activities by the associations
and EFDA in 2005 should focus on increased publicawareness of the ITER project, on the efficient organisation, high cooperation and success stories in theEuropean research programme, and increased participation of industry in the fusion research activities.
Mr. Capouet invited the EURATOM Associations andtheir multinational scientists to play an active role in
the process by bringing fusion to the public. At theend of the meeting the European PI officers agreed
on CEA being a great host and excellent organiser
and they all look forward to seeing ITER in this site.
Public Information Group opens the ITER site at
Cadarache - well, only for this photo …

The Public Debate on
ITER is represented on:
http://www.debatpublic.fr/debats_en_cours/liste_decisions.html

For more information on
the Fusion Expo pleasesee:
http://www.efda.org>> Events>> Fusion ExpoEFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 8

EventsFusion Road Show nominated for European Descartes Prize
The Fusion Road Show of Prof. Niek Lopes Cardozo(Association EURATOM FOM-Rijnhuizen, The Netherlands) has been nominated as one of the five finalists inthe category “Innovative action for science communication” of the Descartes Prize for Science Communication.
Beginning in 2004, the prize - with a total of 250.000
prize money - will be awarded yearly by the European
Union for outstanding science communication actions,with the aim of stimulating broader public understanding
about science and research. The prize ceremony washeld on the 2 of December last year in Prague, in thepresence of Dr. Janez Potočnik, EU commissioner for Science and Research, and Mr.
Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic. In the "innovative action" catagory, theprize was won by a Hungarian initiative to help schoolchildren get involved in research.
Among the prizewinners in other categories was zoologist and broadcaster Sir David
Attenborough, for his pioneering work in the field of wildlife filmmaking.

Find more informationon the Fusion Road Showon (in Dutch):
http://www.fusie-energie.nl/
roadshow.htm

You would like to book the
Fusion Road Show?
Please contact Mark Westra on:
m.t.westra@rijnh.nl

EFDA Brochures in different languages
Fusion Energy, ITER, JET, - these are topics you would like to know more about?
Our EFDA brochures have been available in English so far and have been updated now.
Because of a great demand some of them were also translated into otherlanguages. All brochures can be ordered online as a paper version by contacting
federico.casci@efda.org, but you can also download them in PDF format from our website http://www.efda.org >> Downloads >> Brochures“JET - The Joint European Torus - A European Success Story”: English only
“ITER - A brighter outlook to future energy”: English only
“Cleaner energy for the future”: Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian,
Spanish (soon also in Portuguese, Hungarian, Polish and Czech)

EFDA Close Support Unit - Garching
Boltzmannstr. 2
D-85748 Garching / Munich - Germany
phone: +49-89-3299-4237
fax: +49-89-3299-4197
e-mail: federico.casci@efda.org
editors: Federico Casci, Doris Lutz-Lanzinger
graphic design: Karen Jens

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

and additionally
http://www.jet.efda.org
http://www.iter.org© M.Q. Tran (EFDA Leader) 2005.
This internal newsletter or parts of it may not be reproduced without permission.
Text, pictures and layout, except where noted, courtesy of the EFDA Parties.
The EFDA Parties are the European Commission and the Associates of the European
Fusion Programme which is co-ordinated and managed by the Commission.
Neither the Commission, the Associates nor anyone acting on their behalf is responsible
for any damage resulting from the use of information contained in this publication.