newsletter
newsletter
Vol 2004 / 5
October 15, 2004

E UROPEAN F USION DEVELOPEMENT AGREEMENT

News
Issued by the EFDA
Close Support Unit
Garching

Contents• Personality:
Dr. Janez Potocnik
page 2• JET:
Direct Observation of
Fusion Alpha Particles
page 3• Associations:
Increased EU participation in Asdex-Upgrade
page 4/5

Competitiveness Council of Ministers
At its session of 24th September 2004 in Brussels (Belgium), the CompetitivenessCouncil of Ministers had an exchange of views on the line to take in the international
negotiations on ITER, on the basis of information from the European Commission. The
Commission was encouraged to pursue actively these negotiations with a view toenabling the Council, to reach agreement on the main elements of the future international agreement on ITER. The Council reaffirmed its strong support to the current
efforts undertaken by the Commission to find a solution in the negotiations with theinternational partners for the still unsolved question of the host site of ITER, and to theEuropean candidate, Cadarache, bearing in mind its advantageous position both fromthe scientific and environmental point of view. Because of the global importance of
fusion research, there is a consensus that international cooperation should be on the
broadest possible basis and involve as many partners as possible. It would be advantageous to pursue a broader approach and the fast track method involving an accompanying programme of research and technological development such as materials
research, in addition to ITER, as the means for advancing fusion research. With a viewto enabling the rapid commencement of the ITER project on the European site in linewith the European Council conclusions of March 2004, the Council has invited the Commission to elaborate a clear roadmap in respect of the final phase of the international
negotiations. It is necessary to take every initiative, also counting on Member States'
support, to explain Europe's proposal and its position to its partners and make a strong
effort to preserve the global character of the project. As the share of the cost of ITER
construction to the Community budget should not exceed the present estimate, theCommission should examine the respective financial implications of the possible scenarios for ITER and related activities. The necessary input has to be provided in duetime to enable the Council to arrive at an appropriate decision at the next Council of
Ministers, which will take place on 25th to 26th November this year.
The French Research Minister visits Cadarache
On September 30, Mr. François d'Aubert, the French Minister for Research, visited
Cadarache and recalled the strong EU Competitiveness Council support to the proposal
to host ITER in Cadarache.
He expressed high optimism on the final choice of Cadarache as the ITER site whilestressing the importance of a wide international collaboration.

• Events:
SOFT 2004
page 6/7• Events:
World Energy
Congress (WEC)
page 8

http://www.efda.org

The French Research Minister F. d’Aubert, together with J.Jaquinot, in Cadarache

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 2

Personality
Janez Potocnik nominated as Member-designateof the European Commission 2004 - 2009
“As a Commissioner I would ensure that we make the 2004 enlargement a success story
and that an EU of 25 member states will continue to prosper and develop. One of the main
challenges for the next Commission is to increase knowledge and combat ignorance of the
EU and its vocation. I would consider it my mandate to bring the EU closer to the citizens
and I would see as my particular responsibility to build bridges between the Commission
work in Brussels and the people of Slovenia. I want to work for a Commission that is close
to the citizens and their needs”, said Dr. Janez Potocnik after his nomination as Memberdesignate of the European Commission 2004 - 2009 on July 28. On 1st November he will
succeed Philippe Busquin as Commissioner for science and research.
Dr. Potocnik was born in 1958 and graduated with honours fromthe Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. He continued
his studies at the same University where he did his Master's degreein 1989 and a Ph.D. degree in 1993. For several years (1989-1993),
he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research in
Ljubljana. In July 1994, he was appointed Director of the Institute ofMacroeconomic Analysis and Development of the Republic of Slovenia, then a part of the Ministry of Economic Relations and Development. In April 1998, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia
appointed Dr. Potocnik Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of
the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union. From June 2000 to
December 2000, he was also the acting director of Government
Office for European Affairs. In June 2001, he was appointed a Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister.
Since 1991 Dr. Potocnik has also been an assistant professor at
the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, where he lectures on statistics. On 24 January 2002, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia appointed Dr. Potocnik the Minister
without portfolio responsible for European Affairs. After resigning from this post, in April
2004 he became member of the European Commission.

JET

Call for Participation in the 2005 JET Campaigns
The JET Experimental Campaigns of 2005 are scheduled to begin next July following along shutdown and restart and preparations are now well underway. In June 2004, the EFDA
Steering Committee approved the 2005 JET Workprogramme (Revision 1) and appointed
the leaders (http://users.jet.efda.org/pages/task-forces.html) for the nine Task Forces.
On the 17th September 2005 the first Call for proposals to participate was sent to the
Associations (http://users.jet.efda.org/pages/prog). The purpose of this call is to invite Associations, New Member States and Candidate Countries to submit proposals for experiments inline with the 2005 JET Workprogramme. The programme is focused strongly on the preparation of the ITER detailed design and ITER exploitation. Proposals should involve personnel with experience as Session Leader and other key competencies to ensure the highest
scientific and technical standard. They should be submitted through an Association before
22nd October 2004 and, following assessment by the Task Force Leaders in collaboration
with CSU (Culham), meetings are planned during the week beginning 22nd November 2004
to select proposals and prepare the experimental schedule for Campaigns C15-C17. Basedon the outcome of these meetings, a second letter, planned for 6th December 2004, will
invite the Associations to make available staff with appropriate competencies and to provide
the relevant costings.

page 3

EFDA Fusion NewsletterJET
12 -3 -1

gah 63062 20.000000
2.0

Direct observation of fusion alpha particles in JET* NE213 liquid scintillation detector: Neutron spectrometry is a tool for obtaining important information on the fuel ion composition, velocity distribution and temperature of fusion plasmas. A compact
NE213 liquid scintillator was installed and operated at JET during two experimental campaigns(C8-2002 and Trace Tritium Experiment-TTE 2003).

Z (m)

1.0

0.0

0.5

-1.0

LCI

0.0
2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

R (m)

Fig. 1: Schematic of the JET neutron/gamma
profile monitor geometry.

12 -3 -1

gad 63062 20.000000

x10 m s

2.0

2.0
1.0

1.5

0.0
1.0

0.5

-1.0

0.0
LCI

Observation of fusion alphas has become possible by detecting the gamma
rays emitted by an excited 12C nucleus, resulting from a nuclear reaction
between beryllium and fast alpha particles - the threshold energy for the reaction is 1.7 MeV. The presence of beryllium in JET thus allows to trace fastalphas, such as the 3.5 MeV D-T fusion alphas. In addition a two-dimensional
reconstruction of both gamma-ray and neutron emissivity is possible on JET,
allowing detailed spatial information on their behaviour. Fast deuterium ions aredetected using another nuclear reaction between a 12C nucleus and fast deuterium ions (energy > 0.8 MeV), which emits gamma rays with a different energy.
This new diagnostic method demonstrated its full potential in fusion alphasimulation experiments earlier this year. For the first time ever on a tokamak
detailed information was obtained on the trajectories of fast alpha particles, as
shown in Fig.1. The figure shows in addition that the alpha particles are well confined in the centre of the JET machine, and is in agreement with simulations.
A reconstruction of the location of the fast deuterium ions, measured simultaneously, is shown in Fig. 2.
The density evolution of fast particles as a function of time can also be studied by observing the time evolution of the gamma-ray intensity. This offers thepossibility of measuring the confinement of e.g. fast alpha particles in various
plasma regimes. A classical slowing down of alpha particles in discharges at highplasma current and monotonic q-profile is observed, confirming predictions. In
addition, degraded confinement of the alpha particles is observed in low plasma
current discharges and plasmas with a so-called 'Current Hole', an effect for specific JET discharges.

1.5

1.0

Z (m)

The deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reaction will be the energy source of athermonuclear reactor: 2D + 3T -> 4He + 1n with 17.6 MeV energy gain releasedin the form of kinetic energy of the two products. The power for a self-sustained
burning plasma will be provided by the slowing down of 4He ions (called alphaparticles or alphas) that are produced with an energy of 3.5 MeV. Investigations
into the behaviour of these fusion alphas are therefore of crucial importance forburning plasma physics. While the measurement of the 14.1 MeV D-T fusion produced neutrons 1n has been routinely carried out for several years with various
neutron detectors, detecting alpha particles has remained a major challenge.
The worldwide unique capabilities of JET (confinement of 3.5 MeV alphas andthe use of Beryllium first wall) have recently provided a 'natural' solution to thischallenge, as explained below. The new technique can be used not only in D-T
plasmas, but also in experiments where 110 keV 4He nuclei (injected with helium
doped neutral beam injectors in JET) are accelerated to energies of several MeV
using Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating, thus simulating the behaviour of fusionalphas without actually using the D-T reaction. The technique used also enables
discrimination of fast alphas from fast deuterium ions, as will be needed for ITER.
A simultaneous observation of both fast particles is thus possible.
The JET neutron and gamma detection system (Fig.1) consists of two fanshaped collimator arrays (cameras), one horizontal (with 10 detector channels)
and one vertical (with nine detector channels). Each channel is equipped withthree detectors:• a NE213 * liquid scintillation detector, for detection of 2.5MeV D-D fusion
neutrons• a plastic scintillation detector for detection of 14MeV D-T fusion neutrons• a special CsI(Tl) detector for detection of gamma rays

x10 m s

2.0

2.5

3.0
R (m)

3.5

Fig. 2: Two-dimensional reconstruction of gamma-rays emissivity
in JET during a fast alpha simulation discharge. The gamma energies are limited to a) fast alpha nuclear reactions on beryllium
impurity b) fast deuterium nuclear reactions on carbon impurity.
(The reconstruction is constrained to magnetic flux surfaces.)EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 4

Associations
Increased EU participation in the new ASDEX Upgrade Programme structure
Current Composition of
the ASDEX Upgrade Programme Committee
K. Behringer (Dept. E4, IPP, DE)
H. Bindslev (Risø, DK) ViceChair
H. Bolt (Dept.Mat.Research,
IPP, DE)
C. Challis (UKAEA Culham, GB)
A. Fasoli (CRPP Lausanne, CH)
O. Gruber (Project Head, IPP,
DE) Chair
S. Günter (Dept. TOK, IPP-,
Greifswald, DE)
M. Kaufmann (Dept. E1, IPP, DE)
T. Klinger (Dept. E5, IPP, DE )K. Lackner (Dept. TOK, IPP, DE)
E. Lazzaro (CNR Milano, IT)
M. Manso (IST Lisbon, PT)
P. Mc Carthy (DCU Cork, IE)
R. Salomaa (TEKES, FI)
HP. Winter (ÖAW, AT)
R. Wolf (TEC, BE/DE/NL)
H. Zohm (Dept. E2, IPP, DE)
S. Zoletnik (HAS, HU)

ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) has always had a large deal of collaborations with both European and international partners. Scientists, in particular from other European Associations,analysed data, provided theory and published results. Two years ago the EURATOM-IPP
Association in Garching (Germany) changed the formal structure of the ASDEX Upgrade
project to allow the involvement of EU Associations in the decision making process, giving
them more responsibility for the definition and execution of the programme (see EFDA
Newsletter February 2003). At present the ASDEX Upgrade Programme Committee (AUGPC) has 10 members from the Associations and 8 from IPP.
IPP not only setup a new programme committee, but also improved in many respects
the opportunities and working conditions for collaborating scientists. Due to the large number of experiments proposed both by IPP scientists and by external collaborators, a procedure was elaborated for the preparation of the programme. An annual 'Call to Associations
for Proposals to Participate' in the next year's programme is sent during Summer. Based on
submitted proposals, the Task Force leaders establish a programme which is discussed andfurther elaborated at the annual 'Programme Seminar'. This programme is then presented
to the AUG-PC for approval. All regular meetings important for the preparation and execution of the programme, namely the yearly 'Programme Seminar' at Ringberg Castle, the'Task Force Meetings' as well as the weekly 'Operations Meeting' on Monday morning areheld in English language and are open for external participants. Remote participation inthese meetings is now routinely possible via steadily improved video conferencing connections. Especially the weekly 'Operations Meeting' is broadcast on the Internet during
campaigns. At this meeting the first analysis of experimental results of the previous week
are presented. In addition, the programme for the coming experimental days is chosen fromthe pool of approved programme elements by taking into account the actual technicalboundary conditions. With the installation of a reliable and easy to use video conferencing
system, IPP gives all collaborators the opportunity to follow and to participate in the scientific work as closely as possible. Finally, the ASDEX Upgrade Intranet and the means forremote data access have been improved to support a convenient and quick start forscientists visiting AUG for the first time.
The increased level of European participation in the ASDEX Upgrade project wasdemonstrated by the large number of AUG related papers involving non-IPP scientists presented at the 31st EPS Conference on Plasma Physics in London this year. From a total of
33 contributed papers, 19 had external co-authors and 11 were submitted by a first author
from a collaborating European Association. Recently, a new Task Force structure for campaigns 2005/2006 was defined by the AUG-PC. The
preparation and the execution of the experimental programme of ASDEX Upgrade will be organised underfour Task Forces:
I.

Improvement of H-mode and integrated scenarios,
TFL: V. Mertens, Deputy: J. Stober

II.

Pedestal physics including tolerable ELMs,
TFL: W. Suttrop

III.

SOL & Divertor physics and first wall materials,
TFL: A. Herrmann

IV.

MHD instabilities and their active control,
TFL: P. Martin, ENEA, RFX Padova

The 2003 ASDEX Upgrade Programme Seminar took place at
Ringberg Castle (Germany).

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 5The strong European participationin the scientific exploitation of ASDEX
Upgrade is also reflected by the leadership of Task Force IV by P. Martin, a scientist from ENEA RFX Padova, Italy. He
is already the second non-IPP scientist
who is managing an ASDEX Upgrade
Task Force, succeeding D. Borba, IST,
Portugal.
Besides participation in campaigns,
new hardware for diagnostics has been
installed on ASDEX Upgrade by severalof our European partners. This type ofparticipation opens up exciting new possibilities of joint research. In the long run,
ASDEX Upgrade hopes that with suchcontributions from European Associations larger hardware upgrades e.g. theBreakdown of ASDEX Upgrade related contributions to the 31st EPS Conference on Plasma
installation of a new current drive sysPhysics (London, 2004) by the affiliation of the first author.
tem, can be realised as a joint endeavor.
With such external support ASDEX
Upgrade will become to an even greater extent an important and valuable tool with true
European spirit, in the EU part of the ITER Accompanying Programme.

Conferences

Date / Location
25 - 29 October 2004,
Nice, France
1 - 6 November 2004,
Vilamoura, Portugal
22 - 27 May 2005,
Tokyo, Japan
27 June - 1 July 2005,
Tarragona, Spain
26 - 29 September 2005,
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
4 - 9 December 2005,
Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Event / Website
12th International Congress on Plasma Physics (ICPP)
http://www-fusion-magnetique.cea.fr/icpp2004

20th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference
http://www.iaea.org

http://www.cfn.ist.utl.pt/

7th International Symposium on Fusion Nuclear Technology (ISFNT-7)
http://isfnt.naka.jaeri.go.jp/default.htm

32nd EPS Conference on Plasma Physics
http://eps2005.ciemat.es/

21st IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE)
12th International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials (ICFRM-12)
http://icfrm-12.pnl.gov/index.stm

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 6

EventsSOFT 2004 - the Fusion Community meets in Venice
The objective of the
Symposium on Fusion
Technology (SOFT) is toexchange information on
design, construction andoperation of fusion experiments and on the technology for present fusion
machines, the next stepand power plants. It includes oral and poster
presentations as well as
an industrial and R & D
exhibition.

In September the biennial 23rd Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT-23) took placein Venice under the capable management of Association Euratom-ENEA. As the Fusion
community has come to realise, this conference is now the premier conference on fusion
technology. This year, this was demonstrated by an attendance of over 570 scientists and engineers, including three from Nigeria, and with a total of 25
countries represented.
AUSTRIA BELGIUM
The tone for the week was set by
the first three keynote speeches of
HUNGARY
the opening ceremony. ThereSWITZERLAND
was a very warm welcome to
SWEDEN
Venice given by Professor
USA
Paolo Costa, Mayor of
SPAIN
Venice and Member ofthe European ParliaSLOVENIA
ment. He communiRUSSIA
cated the local conROMANIA
viction that clean
CZECH REPUBLIC
and safe energy
sources for future
UK (incl EFDA)
generations must
be developed. He
PORTUGAL
also gave his
THE
NETHERLANDS
p e r s o n n e l
NIGERIAencouragement
LATVIAto the fusion
community
in
their efforts tobring thefusion energy option tothemarket
ITALY
place. The second address, by
Mr Pablo Fernandez Ruiz, the directorof Energy Research,
INDIA
General Directorate RTDof the European Commission,JAPANgave a clear message on thedetermination to progress the ITER
negotiations and outlined the direction that
the Commission would be taking for the future of
Research. The participants were informed that negotiations on ITER are being vigorously pursued in order to break the current siting deadlock. From the top political levels, the EU wishes to bring the ITER project to Cadarache, France. Discussions have also started on the content of the 7th Framework programme. Energy
research should benefit from an increase budget in line with the Lisbon strategy,
and the Barcelona objectives. The third presentation was given by Sir Chris
Llewellyn Smith, Director of the UKAEA, Culham Laboratories. He gave his ideas on

BULGARY

CHIN

page 7

EFDA Fusion Newsletterthe fast track approach to realising fusion energy. He emphasised the need to have a moreindustrial, project oriented approach to the implementation of the fast track in fusion energy
research with all the necessary physics and technological developments required for DEMO
being pursued in parallel.
The many oral and poster presentations showed the significant progress that has been
made in the last two years in both physics understanding and the many different fusion technologies. Some specific examples are the success of the ITER Toroidal Field and Central Solenoid model coil projects and the many lessons learned in manufacturing andtesting; the promising results of initial studies into high temperature superconNA
ductors which would economically be attractive for future fusion reactors; theexciting new EAST superconducting tokamak in China, which should
KOREA
achieve its first plasmas in 2005; the progress made in the design, development and testing of the proposed heating systems on ITER; the
FINLAND
promising results from DIIID on the stabilisation of neoclassical tearing modes with ECR waves; the advances in plasma control and theunderstanding of plasma wall interaction processes; the confidence
FRANCE
gained in the performance of irradiated high heat flux components;
advances in remote handling systems are also benefiting from anincreasing collaboration between remote handling researchers
in fission and fusion research. In terms of the long term technologies there has been consolidation of the database on
EUROFER-type steels, good progress in test blanket module
designs and tests, as well as progress in the design and development of the IFMIF materials test facility.
For a lot of the participants though, SOFT was not just achance to present or catch up with the latest research results.
Twenty-four satellite meeting were held including; the Committee of Public Information, the Committee on Fusion Industry,
four Executive Council meetings of the IEA Implementing Agreements and the Coordinating Committee for Neutral Beams.
GERMANY
All in all, SOFT-23 was a successful, highly motivating and con(incl EFDA)
structive conference supported by outstanding hospitality. The international fusion community would like to thank Prof. Gnesotto and his
team of Consorzio RFX for providing a flawless organisation in a fantastic venue, the “Fondazione Cini” on the San Giorgio Maggiore island.
SOFT-24 will be held in Warsaw, Poland in 2006.

More Information on theconference and most of
the presentations can befound on the website:
http://soft2004.igi.cnr.it/

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 8

Events

Delivering Sustainability: The World Energy Congress 2004

Photo: James Wiseman

The World Energy Congress takes place every three years and is
the international showcase for discussing all topics concerning energy.
Technical, economic, political and social issues can all be found in the long and interesting
programme which brings together the expertise available worldwide in the field of energy.
The 19th World Energy Congress and Exhibition took place in Sydney (Australia) on
September 5 to 9. Energy experts debated on the three A's, the World Energy Council's
goals (Accessibility, Availability, Acceptability), presenting their views on these topics
and on how sustainable energy systems can be achieved.
Inequalities in energy availability andaccess around the world were highlighted
and the need of a reliable electricity supply
reinforced. The importance of pursuingresearch in all areas was reiterated, as wellas the necessity not to demonise nor
idealise any energy source, since the world
will need a diversity of energy sources
especially in the developing countries. It
was concluded that an important amount ofenergy reserves still remains, but theimmediate challenge will be to use them inan environmentally friendly way.
It was the first time that, officially, fusion
was mentioned as an item among the topics included in the session “Long term technologies for energy supply”.
This year, two papers were presented by the European Fusion community at thecongress. One was by EFDA on the ITER project and the second one by the EURATOMIPP Association on fusion in the context of energy studies.
EFDA was also present at theannexed exhibition thanks to the
supportprovidedbythe
EURATOM Associations FOM,
UKAEA and FZK. In the 18 m2
EFDA stand, fusion was presented
with the help of posters, images
and films and with a special
emphasis on the ITER project.
Brochures and the new CD-Rom
on fusion were distributed to thevisitors as well as a booklet containing the EFDA paper and theposters displayed at the stand.
The EFDA exhibition was very
well received by the more than 400 visitors who came to learn more about fusion andthe road map of the European programme towards the fusion energy target. Among thevisitors we could find scientists working in the energy sector, journalists, top managers
of energy companies (utilities and industries) and politicians.

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

What is WEC?
The World Energy Council(WEC) is the foremost
global multienergy organisation in the world today.
WEC has Member Committees in over 90 countries, including most of thelargest energy-producing
and energy consuming
countries. The 80-year-old
organisation covers all
types of energy, including
coal, oil, natural gas,
nuclear, hydro, andrenewables, and is UNaccredited, non-governmental, non-commercial
and non-aligned.

For more information on
WEC:
http://www.worldenergy.org/w
ec-geis/You can read the official
conclusions of the 19th
World Energy Congress:
http://www.worldenergy.org/we
c-geis/news_events/19th_congress/19th_congress.asp

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) 2004.
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. Courtesy of
pictures: page 8: J. Wisemann.
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.