newsletter
newsletter
Vol 2003 / 5
October 5, 2003

E UROPEAN F USION DEVELOPEMENT AGREEMENT

News
Issued by the EFDA
Close Support Unit
Garching

ITER at the European Council of Ministers
At their meeting of 22nd September, the Competitiveness Council took note of a presentation by
the Commission on the state of the process for identifying a European candidate site for ITER. The
two sites proposed, Vandellos in Spain and Cadarache in France, have been analysed by a groupchaired by Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government. The report of this ITER siteanalysis group was presented at the Council. The Council has decided that discussions would continue on this question with a view to reaching a decision at its session on 27th November 2003. The
Commission has the intention to submit by the end of 2003 proposals for decisions related to ITER:• the international agreement on ITER implementation ; and• the structure of the Joint Undertaking which will be responsible for the European contribution to the project.

For more information please see:Contents.
.
.
.

ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/focus/docs/229en.pdf and

New EFDA Leadership
page 2
Interview:
Dr. Yasuo Shimomura
page 3Main strategic R&D
lines in the European
Technology Programme
page 4.
.

Progress in the ITER Negotiations
The 10th Negotiators' Standing sub-group (NSSG-10) meeting was hosted by the European
Union. Delegations from Canada, the European Union, Japan, south Korea, the People's Republicof China, the Russian Federation and the United States of America met at the Culham ResearchCenter, UK, on 25 September. This followed an intense week of work for various sub-groups, whoreported at the NSSG-10 meeting. Important progress has been made in particular, upon the
Procurement Allocation Scheme and Intellectual Property Rights guidelines. Delegations haverecalled the importance attached by their governemnts to the ITER project and their wishes to reachconsensus on the site as soon as possible and finish up the Negotiations possibly by the end of thisyear. It is foreseen that the next Negotiation meeting will be held in Beijing in November.

Aznar visits Vandellós

Associations:
UKAEA / JET
page 5.

http://ue.eu.int/pressData

Associations:
Tungsten in ASDEX
Upgradepage 6ITER:
Delegation from Sweden
at EFDA Garching
page 7
Obituaries:
René Pellat /Cees Braams
page 8

http://www.efda.org

On 9 September the Spanish Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, visited Vandellós (Spain), thesite where his government proposes to host ITER. He was accompanied by Juan Costa, the new
Spanish Minister for Science and technology and Jordi Pujol, President of the Government of
Catalonia (Spain). Prime Minister Aznar at this occasion reiterates his strongest support to fusionenergy research and outlines the qualities of the Spanish site proposal.
For more information see: http://www.ciemat.es/eng/

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 2People
New EFDA Leadership“EFDA is now a key element of the European fusion programme. I would first like to pay
a tribute first to my predecessor, Professor Karl Lackner. As the first EFDA Leader, Karl has
helped build up the whole EFDA organisation and has led it through its first years, the mostcritical ones. He was helped in this by two Associate Leaders,Dr. Roberto Andreani for Technology and Dr. Jérôme Paméla for JET, who also acted as
EFDA leader ad interim for about a year. Their experience, their intimate knowledge of thesystem and their commitment to advancing fusion will be invaluable in guiding my first steps
in this new challenge.
Fusion energy research has fascinated me since my undergraduate years at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Coming from Vietnam, an energy hungry
country, I am deeply convinced that a vigorous
development of all energy sources in general, andof fusion in particular, is obligatory if we are tooffer a perspective of sustainable development tofuture generations. It is therefore with a deep
sense of responsibility and humility that I am taking up my new duties.
The ITER negotiations will soon be complete
and EFDA, within a new European frame for thefusion programme, will continue to play an important role. Why am I so convinced of this? The
most visible reasons are the wealth of scientificand technical results obtained at JET and the
R&D advances for ITER. Secondly, within EFDA
we have successfully developed novel ways ofworking together in our extremely complex scientific and technical enterprise. This will be an enormous asset during the construction and exploitation phases of ITER.
ITER will also bring many changes to theEuropean programme. An Accompanying
Programme in Physics and Technology and a
new programme structure are presently underdiscussion. These should allow us to maintain ourpresent European leadership in fusion scienceand technology and to train a new generation ofscientists, the “ITER generation” as it was dubbed
by one JET Task Force Leader. I shall serve thecommunity by helping to develop this importanttransition phase.
The commitment of everyone in the Fusion
Programme to collaborate closely has been the
key to the success of EFDA. As the EFDA Leader,
I believe in the value of continued dialog. It is only
through such dialog that the specific charactersand strengths of each laboratory can be recognised and an optimal European programme bebuilt and implemented around them. I am convinced that all of you will share this view. Together,by gathering all our skills in physics, technology
and management, you will help me in my dream of a young undergraduate student in the latesixties: seeing the promise of fusion.”
Prof. Minh Quang Tran

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 3

Interview
New ITER Interim Project Leader to continue fruitful cooperation
EFDA Newsletter (E.N.): Your first name – Yasuo – means “peaceful man”. This seems to bea very good precondition to lead a team of different international scientists and engineers!
Yasuo Shimomura (Y.S.): I’m sure that the cooperation within our ITER project is peacefuland nice! After joining it I recognized that the difference between the nationalities is muchsmaller than the difference between the personal characters. But to give an example fornational differences: the traditional Japanese are probably more calm and think more
before they start to express their opinion. This is sometimes helpful, but sometimes it’sbetter to discuss the items amongst all people, even at a very preliminary stage. Other
nationals are thinking while talking. These kind of people stimulate the discussion very
easily, but sometimes they just cause confusion. So you have always advantages anddisadvantages, but I think exactly this fact creates very fruitful working conditions.
E.N.: You had an impressive series of leading positions starting as leader of the first divertor
tokamak in the world, the JFT-2a/DIVA at JAERI (Japan). How do you see your new position as ITER project leader?
Y.S.: The first time I was involved in ITER was at the end of 1986, when its objectives andactivities were defined. In 1992 I was deputy to the ITER Director, first with Dr. Rebut andthen with Dr. Aymar. I have been working for many years on position two, so the work of
the ITER project leader is not very new to me. But at the same time, the time scale isvery short as we are entering the construction phase, so my position is under much morepressure. The technical side of ITER construction preparation is clear. But in order to start
construction quickly and smoothly it is important to set up a construction team and this isdifficult without having the Director-General nominated. A team built up by another person
will not meet his requirements. We also will have to upgrade new tools like a document
control and the CAD system before the ITER site is selected.

Dr. Yasuo Shimomura
became Interim Project
Leader of the ITERInternational team in July
2003 and moved to
Garching (Germany).
He succeeded Dr. Robert
Aymar who was elected
Director-General at CERN,
the European Organization
for Nuclear Research in
Geneva (Switzerland).

E.N.: As a Japanese native, deep in your heart you surely support Rokkasho as the ITER site?
Y.S.: Actually I don’t doubt that all Japanese want ITER as a very important scientific centre
in their territory, but for me personally it is not so important where ITER will be built.
By using information technology, scientists can use ITER from anywhere in the world.
For fusion development the site itself is not important.
E.N.: Meanwhile the number of ITER partners has increased to 7. Do you see any problems,
which could arise from that fact?
Y.S.: The components of the machine will be fabricated by different partners. If the partners
don’t understand that the sharing among them should be technically reasonable and simple, we have a high risk of having a delay in construction or to have an unreliablemachine. But except for this point I see much more positive points. If you look at Europe
or Japan or the US, all the scientists and engineers are getting old. We actually have few
young persons in this research area. But in Korea or in China we have excellent and very
active groups of young people. This will help ITER a lot. So, during the ITER operation
I think mostly people from the new Parties will contribute highly to develop the basis for a
future fusion power plant.
E.N.: 21 years ago you already spent some time in Garching to work on the ASDEX
machine at the Association-Euratom IPP. What do you like best in Germany?
Y.S.: My wife, my three sons and I enjoy hiking in the mountains and I like the excellent
German public transportation system, as driving myself means, to me, wasting my time.
And of course I like very much *Schweinshaxn and beer!
Interview: D. Lutz-Lanzinger*Bavarian expression for “knuckle of pork”

You can find a short CV of
Dr. Shimomura on the
EFDA and ITER WEB!
http://www.efda.org
http://www.iter.org

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 4ITER R&D: Report
Main strategic R & D lines in the European Technology Programme in view of
ITER construction
The European support to ITER, in terms of design and R&D, has been maintained without interruptions during all the design development period, starting in 1992 and continuing
through all the phases of the project. Now that the construction of ITER is close to becoming a reality, and hopefully in a European site, it is very important to assure the best matching between the R&D activities and the construction. EFDA has therefore concentrated on
the fields of activities which are crucial to the success of ITER construction and operation.

Dr. Roberto Andreani

Magnets (Toroidal Field coils, Central Solenoid)
The design of the Toroidal Field coils and Central Solenoid have already been validated by the correct operation of the two large coil models built and tested. Six European companies have been assigned a contract to fabricate test samples of the strand. By the end of
2004, the quality of the complete conductor manufactured with these strands will be tested.
Europe has developed the competences necessary to build all the components of the magnetic system of ITER, apart from the Central Solenoid.
Vacuum Vessel
A segment of vessel, implying, during manufacture, all the most relevant technical problems
to be encountered in the construction and assembly of the entire vessel, is going to be manufactured. Studies on the expected distortions and on the inspection methods are continuing.
Plasma Facing Components
There are two main lines concerning the first wall (beryllium armour)and the divertor, in particular the outer vertical target (two zones withrespectively tungsten tiles and carbon fiber reinforced graphite tiles). An
extensive programme of fabrication and test of samples and prototypes isunder way, in industry and in the Associations. It aims at consolidating
and demonstrating the right recipe to build these components, subject todemanding thermo-mechanical fatigue, with the needed reliability.

Superconducting Winding of the
Toroidal Field Model Coil during fabrication

Remote Handling
The splitting of R&D with Japan during the ITER Engineering
Design Activities (EDA) has taken Europe to concentrate on the
Divertor RH system. Two large test facilities were built during the
ITER EDA to demonstrate the reliable operation of the system andto study refurbishment operations. As a consequence of the majorchanges in design going from the large version of ITER to the present one, we plan to build a prototype of the new main mover, theCassette Multifunctional Mover, and to demonstrate its operation ina smaller facility.

Heating & Current Drive Systems
We are trying to put Europe ahead of competition by developing state of the art radiofrequency generators in the ECRH and ICRH fields. Test beds will be realized in the
Associations to demonstrate the performance of the systems. For the Negative Ion Beams,
development activities continue in the European laboratories to improve key aspects of thesystem like radiofrequency ion sources and 1 MeV accelerating structures. Also in thiscase, a specialised test bed will be realised in an Association.

For more information on
the ITER R&D projects see:
http://www.iter.org

For each of these projects, an analysis has been performed of the needs of the project,of the status of the present activities, of their compliance with the ITER requirements, of thetime schedule to be respected in order to properly match the project time schedule.
The main result of this internal effort has been that we have not found lines on which wewould not deliver on time, assuming that the needed resources, human and financial, beavailable as planned.
Dr. Roberto Andreanipage 5EFDA Fusion Newsletter

Associations
Christopher Llewellyn Smith appointed to Key Post
UKAEA announced on July, 30, 2003 the appointment of Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn
Smith FRS as Director of Culham (UK), responsible for developing and implementing thestrategy for the UK’s fusion research programme. Chris Llewellyn Smith’s scientific achievements and leadership have been recognized by awards and honours in seven countries on
three continents. He succeeds the late Derek Robinson FRS and is an enthusiast for fusion.
For the Press Release please see:
http:// www.fusion.org.uk/news/n030730_director.html

JET: Families and Friends Open Day at Culham Science Centre

Chris Llewellyn Smith

A great success – that was the verdict on the Families and Friends Open Day at Culham
on 6 September. Some 1300 staff and guests (including Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith who took
up his post as Culham Director the following Monday) took advantage of a wonderfully
sunny day to view the major experimental areas at Culham and take in displays, talks andactivities throughout the day. It was also a splendid opportunity for recently arrived EFDA
secondees to explore the whole site. Liquid nitrogen, JET robot arm and pressure suitdemonstrations were particularly popular with children (of all ages!) and due to highdemand, queues built up at times to enter the JET torus hall, but no-one seemed to mind.
A virtual reality JET “fly-through” created by JET Remote Handling staff was another huge
attraction, with 12 PCs in action all day. Even grandparents who had never operated a computer before were persuaded to try their hand at finding their way through a “virtual JET”.
Talks on fusion, JET and ITER, and the new interactive Fusion Road Show, describing
fusion science with tricks and demonstrations and derived from the original Dutch
Association Road Show, were all packed out.
Children were well catered forwith magic shows, a mobile planetarium and a room full of scientific puzzles and experiments.
They could also enter a competition drawing or relating theirexperience of the day, with a prizeof a levitating magnetic top as
used in the Fusion Road Show. A
jazz band entertained in therestaurant at lunchtime and thepig roast staff never stopped carving from noon till two. Many diners chose to eat al fresco in thewarm sunshine. The brilliant
weather was matched by theenthusiasm and good humour of
the ninety staff “on duty” and thequestion everyone was asking
at the end of the day was”when’s the next one?” Quotefrom Chris Warrick: “Staff at
Culham are proud of what they
do – and clearly relished thechance to show this off to families and friends. The high numbers attending clearly demonstrated this.”“Fusionauts” at the Friends & Families Day

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 6

Associations
The ASDEX Upgrade
tokamak (Axially
Symmetric Divertor
EXperiment) went into
operation at the Association
Euratom-IPP in Garching(Germany) in 1991. Thisfusion device, Germany’s
largest at present, is forinvestigating crucial problems in fusion research.

For more information on
ASDEX Upgrade see:
http://www.ipp.mpg.de/eng/ind
ex.html

ASDEX Upgrade - en route to an all tungsten device
All major design studies of future fusion research and reactor devices employ tungsten (W) on plasma-facing components (PFCs) at least in a part of the divertor region, since in general, the erosion rate
for low-Z materials like carbon or beryllium seems to be far too high in a steady state power-producing
device. Additionally, the use of large area carbon based materials may absorb tritium, leading to excessive co-deposition of carbon and tritium. Metal walls avoid this problem. The applicability of molybdenum is tested in FTU (Frascati, Italy) and Alcator C-mod (USA). Tungsten, which will be used in ITER,
has a low erosion yield and a high sputtering threshold, its use implies the risk of unduly high radiative
losses in the central plasma, and concentrations above 10-4 would prevent DT-burn.
However, the experience with tungsten in present-day fusion devices is comparatively small and
ASDEX Upgrade is the only major fusion device which uses tungsten as a plasma-facing material ona large scale. Starting from preliminary studies, a full tungsten divertor was installed in ASDEX Upgrade
for the 1995/1996 campaign, before it was replaced by the optimized divertor DIV II. Since the experimental campaign 1999 the central column of ASDEX Upgrade has been equipped with tungsten-coated graphite tiles in a step by step approach. In 2002, 14.6 m2 of newly tungsten-coated tiles were
mounted in the main chamber, representing about 40% of the total plasma facing components. For the
2003/2004 campaign, another 13.6 m2 of W-coated wall tiles will be added, finally including also thecomplete upper divertor as well as also the baffles at the lower divertor. In preparation for these experiments, W-coating techniques have been tested in cooperation with commercial manufacturers withregard to their suitability for plasma facing components which are subject to power loads of up to 20
MW/m2. New spectroscopic tools have been developed, whichallow measurement of the W-influx and detection of central Wconcentrations (cW) below 10-6. Deposition probe measurements and post mortem analyses of the tiles yielded importantresults on the erosion and migration of tungsten in a mixedmaterial device. The deposition pattern in the divertor clearlyshows that the inner divertor as well as the far scrape-off layer
region in the outer divertor strike zone are strongly depositiondominated. The main thrust of the W-experiments in ASDEX
Upgrade is the demonstration and documentation of the compatibility of fusion plasmas with tungsten plasma-facing components. The results of several tungsten campaigns can besummarized as follows: most of the relevant discharge scenarios are not hampered in any way and cW remains below 10-5,which would be sufficiently low in a future device. At the sametime, regimes were identified which are prone to higher cW or
to tungsten accumulation. Unlike with carbon PFCs, a strong
difference between limiter and divertor operation is found, andcare has to be taken in designing the plasma shape in order toprovide adequate wall clearance. Nevertheless, the start-up of
the plasma at a W surface is possible without leading to a deterioration of the plasma performance in the subsequent flat top
phase. In discharges with peaked density profiles in combination with low diffusive transport the central cW was increased.
It could be reduced drastically by applying central heating, as
typical for an ignited plasma. This procedure is routinely usedand has been verified by other devices in the case of the accumulation of mid-Z impurities. ELM-free discharges or discharges with low ELM frequency, which are produced typicallyat the L-H confinement mode power threshold, showed
increased W-concentrations. These could be overcome by controlling the ELM frequency through pellet injection.

Inside ASDEX Upgrade:the white marked areas are tungsten-coated

In summary, ASDEX Upgrade follows the route to a virtually carbon-free device and will deliver important benchmarks
for the use of W in a future device.

page 7

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

ITER
Delegates:

Swedish Industry visits EFDA CSU Garching
A seven strong delegation consisting of leaders from Swedish industry and researchorganisations in the fusion area visited the EFDA CSU Garching (Germany) on 8 and 9
September 2003. The Swedish guests were interested in the latest developments of the
ITER project as well as in seeing the plans for long term research in fusion. The actual aimof their study tour was to find out new ways to strengthen the contribution of Sweden in thefusion programme, especially in the area of industrial contracts. Sweden is an active partner of the fusion research community and is looking for possible areas of interest for theirown industry.
During the two days, several presentations and discussions were held starting with an
overview by the ITER Interim Project Leader, Dr. Y. Shimomura, on the situation of the ITER
project and followed by the EFDA Associate Leader for Technology, Dr. R. Andreani, about
the goals and achievements of the EFDA technology development programme. In the meeting, all the fields of special interest of the guests were discussed, after introductions by the
EFDA field coordinators, such as Vessel/In-vessel, Diagnostics, Site preparation, Materials
and Safety. First of all, new potential areas for deepening the co-operation were identified.
It was agreed that the technical challenges and complexity of ITER and fusion are in general on a very high level but they exceed the capabilities of European industry only in some
limited areas. Plasma heating systems and diagnostics are such items, where the ITER
project is still dependent on the technical capability of the laboratories of the EFDA
Associations. The management and financing structures of the project were also discussed
and the need for new models not so far employed in industrial history was clearly foreseen.
Dr. R. Andreani confirmed that EFDA has an open policy regarding knowledge sharing
with its partners: “We at EFDA are open to this kind of information exchange with organisations in our partner countries and are pleased to provide them with all the necessary additional information that they need in planning of activities.” He reminded his listeners that
this kind of exchange is always useful to both parties: “Our Swedish guests, with their large
experience of the present industrial practice on many fields important to ITER, can give us
plenty of valuable feedback here at EFDA.”At the end of the meeting, the members of the Swedish delegation expressed theirsatisfaction about their considerably improved knowledge level concerning the ITER project
and, as the most important, awareness on the opportunities this project can present toSwedish industry. As professor Lars Börjesson from the Swedish Research Council stated:“We have to start to do our homework with our industry right now, to inform them on thepossibilities, and find and motivate companies so that they are well prepared when thequalification for ITER procurement begins.”

Prof. L. Börjesson (Swedish
Research Council, Deputy
Secretary General, Naturaland Engineering Sciences)
http://www.vr.se/english/index.asp

C. Dahlberg (Swedish Trade
Council)
http://www.swedishtrade.com

N. Hellström (Swedish Research Council, Industrial relations)
http://www.vr.se/english/index.asp

J.M. Holt (Studsvik Nuclear
AB, President)
http://www.studsvik.se/index.php?lang=en

Dr. P. Karlsson (Swedish
Research Council,
Administrative Coordinator of
the Swedish fusion programme)
http://www.vr.se/english/index.asp

Dr. J. Martinsson (former
General Manager of R&D at
ABB Sweden)
http://www.abb.com/
http://www.abb.se/

Dr. S.-I. Ragnarsson (Swedish
Agency for Innovation
Systems)
http://www.vinnova.se/index_en.htm

EFDA Fusion Newsletter

page 8

EventsEIROforum Event: Physics & Life
The next EIROforum event is called “Physics and Life” and it will be held at
ESTEC, Nordwijk (NL) from November 8 to 15. A report will be presented in the next
EFDA Newsletter issue.
For more information see: http://www.physicsonstage.net
Fusion Expo
Budapest (Hungary)Millenáris Park
October 10 - 26, 2003

Obituaries
In Memoriam: René Pellat
On August 4, 2003, René Pellat unexpectedly passed away. Born February 24,
1936, he graduated from Ecole Polytechnique as well as from the Corps des Ponts et
Chaussées. René Pellat also earned a PhD in Physical Sciences in 1967. Seconded as
an engineer to the Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Department in the CEA(French Atomic Energy Commission, Fontenay-aux-Roses Center), he worked on theoretical research projects from 1962 to 1971. Apart from being a member of and chairing
various scientific boards, René Pellat was appointed President of the National Center
for Space (Cnes) in 1992 and took over several other responsible positions. Since 1987
he was visiting professor at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
R. Pellat was one of the most well known fusion scientists worldwide following his early
work in the field. He has also made significant contributions in several other fields of science such as astrophysics.
As chairman of the Coordinative Committee for the Euratom fusion programme(CCE-FU) since 1999 he played a key role in promoting the ITER project in both thescientific and political world.
Since 2001 he was Head of the Defense Nuclear Safety Authority and Atomic
Energy High Commissioner from 1998 to 2003.

René Pellat

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

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

Dutch Fusion Pioneer Cees Braams Passed Away
Cees Braams, founding father of the Dutch research on nuclear fusion, suddenly
passed away on July 29, 2003. He was born in 1925 and studied physics and mathematics at the Utrecht University (The Netherlands), where he received his doctorate in1952. In 1965 he received his PhD with first class honors. From the foundation of the
FOM-Institute for Plasma Physics in Nieuwegein (The Netherlands) in 1956 to his retirement in 1987 he was the director of the institute. He was appointed professor in plasma
physics at the Utrecht University, which he remained till 1987. His enthusiasm, his visionand his keen insights in scientific questions have formed an important and lasting
contribution to the prosperous development of nuclear fusion research, both in the
Netherlands, and abroad.

Cees Braams

EFDA Close Support Unit - Garching
Boltzmannstr. 2
D-85748 Garching / Munich - Germany© M.Q. Tran (EFDA Leader) 2003.

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

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.

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.