Les Américains, les Chinois et les Coréens veulent y participer en rejoignant le club comprenant déjà: le Canada, l'Union Européenne, le Japon et la Fédération de Russie
Début 2003, le futur d’ITER (International Tokamak Experimental Reactor ou encore Réacteur International Expérimental de type Tokamak) a dominé la scène politique dans le domaine de la “fusion magnétique”. De nombreuses étapes importantes ont marqué positivement le processus décisionnel concernant la construction de ce grand projet international. Les négociations internationales ont permis de progresser dans l’établissement d’un cadre légal liant les quatre partenaires (Canada, Union Européenne, Japon et Russie). Quatre sites ont été proposés, Clarington (Canada), Rokkasho Mura (Japon), Cadarache (France) et Vandellos (Espagne). Leurs évaluations techniques respectives seront terminées pour fin 2002 et feront l’objet d’un rapport final début 2003.
Plusieurs autres pays désirent se joindre à ce projet. Les Etats-Unis, un des pères fondateurs du projet original ITER, qui avaient quitté le partenariat en 1999, ont décidé après une soigneuse analyse des différentes voies débouchant au réacteur à fusion, de revenir dans le programme ITER, en tant que partenaire à part entière. La décision gouvernementale américaine est tombée fin janvier 2003. Par ailleurs la République Populaire de Chine et la Corée du Sud ont exprimé clairement leur intérêt à devenir partenaires dans le projet ITER.
Dans l’Union Européenne, le programme “ fusion ” placé dans le traité de l’Euratom, a été approuvé par le Conseil des Ministres. L’orientation “ réacteur ” du cinquième programme cadre a été également confirmée dans le sixième programme cadre. C’est ainsi que 200 millions d’euros des 750 millions du budget de la fusion pour la période 2003-2006 sont destinés à ITER.
Le Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas (http://crppwww.epfl.ch/), Centre de la Faculté de Sciences de Base (FSB) de l’Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) est depuis près de 25 ans l‘Association suisse du programme Euratom de recherche en fusion. La Suisse participe à ITER (http://www.iter.org/) et à l'installation européenne JET, l'installation de fusion la plus grande au Monde et la plus performante(http://www.jet.efda.org/) .
Communiqué de presse du CRPP-EPFL (6 février 2003)
Association Euratom - Suisse
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China to get partnership to ITER
Prospects for construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) have brightened with the announcement that China has offered to pick up a 10% share of project and the expectation that an announcement is imminent that the U.S. will rejoin the ITER negotiations. Canada, which was the first country to offer to host ITER, has also announced that it is revising its offer, with the aim to make it more even attractive to the other parties
According to an article in the Jan 23 issue of the British science magazine Nature, China has formally asked to join the ITER project and has offered to contribute about 10% of its costs.
The request was made during a visit to China by Robert Aymar, the project's head. A letter confirming the offer has been sent to the project's partners: Japan, Russia and the European Union. "China intends to provide a substantial contribution in kind or in finance to the project," the Chinese science minister Xu Gusnhua said in the letter.
The United States also has been considering rejoining the project, from which it withdrew in 1999. It is widely rumored that a positive decision has been made within the Bush Administration and that an announcement to rejoin is imminent. The revised site offer from Canada is expected "early in 2003."
PlasmaNet, Takaya KAWABE
operated by
United Nations University/Institute of Advanced Studies, & ArTech, Plasma High-Tech Center
contact: plasma@artech.or.jp
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United States rejoining ITER (1)
The White House has issued the following press release relative to the decision that the United States will rejoin the ITER project.
The White House Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 30, 2003
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
I am pleased to announce that the United States will join ITER, an ambitious international research project to harness the promise of fusio energy. The results of ITER will advance the effort to produce clean, safe, renewable, and commercially-available fusion energy by the middle of this century. Commercialization of fusion has the potential to dramatically improve America's energy security while significantly reducing air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases.
The United States will be working with the United Kingdom, other European Union nations, Russia, China, Japan and Canada on the creation of ITER. Today, I am directing the Secretary of Energy to represent the United States at the upcoming ITER meetings in St. Petersburg, Russia. We welcome the opportunity to work with our partners to make fusion energy a reality.
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United States rejoining ITER (2)
The United States will rejoin the ITER project, from which it withdrew in 1998. ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, is designed to produce about 500 Megawatts of thermal fusion power in pulses lasting about 10 minutes, with the potential for later upgrades to continuous power production. The announcement was made by U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in a speech January 30 at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Sites for the project have been formally offered by Canada, France, Japan and Spain. Negotiations among the European Union, Japan, Russia and Canada have been underway on site selection, financial and legal arrangements for the implementation of the international venture.
The U.S. and China are expected to join the negotiations in mid February.
Secretary Abraham said that President Bush has decided that the U.S. will join the negotiations for the construction and operation of the major international magnetic fusion research project known as ITER. "The President," he said, "has made a historic decision to take a major step toward realizing the promise of fusion energy." He said, "This international fusion project is a major step towards a fusion demonstration power plant that could usher in commercial fusion energy." A DOE press release accompanying the Secretary's remarks states "The U.S. share of the
(estimated $5 billion) construction cost is expected to be about 10 percent of the total." ITER construction, if approved and funded by all the governments, is expected to commence in 2006 and begin operation in 2014.
"But," Abraham said, "let me be clear, our decision to join ITER in no way means a lesser role for the fusion programs we undertake here at home. It is imperative that we maintain and enhance our strong domestic research program -- at Princeton, at the universities and at our other labs. Critical science needs to be done in the U.S., in parallel with ITER, to strengthen our competitive position in fusion technology."
The full text of the Secretary's remarks is posted at
http://fire.pppl.gov and at
http://www.energy.gov/HQDocs/speeches/hqspeeches.html
Secretary Abraham announced at PPPL today that the US will rejoin ITER
negotiations. The speech and announcement can be found below.
http://fire.pppl.gov/doe_iter_neg_013003.pdf
http://fire.pppl.gov/doe_abraham_pppl_013003.pdf
From: Stephen O. Dean
Fusion Power Associates
http://fusionpower.org
January 30, 2003
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US and China like to join ITER (US-China fusion.pdf),
source: www.worldnuclear.org
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Link to ITER Web Sites
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