ITER - THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL FUSION-REACTOR

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Project is a multi-phased project, presently proceeding under the auspices of th e international Atomic Energy Agency according to the terms of a four- party agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community, the Gove rnment of Japan, the Government of the United States, and the Governme nt of the Russian Federation. The project is based on the tokamak, a R ussian invention which has been brought to a high level of development and progress in all major fusion programs throughout the world. The o bjective of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific and technological fe asibility of fusion energy for commercial energy production and to tes t the technologies for a demonstration fusion power plant. During exte nded performance operaton ITER will be capable of producing more than 1000 MW (electric) of fusion power, an amount of power that is compara ble with one of today's electricity generating plants. The objective o f the Engineering Design Activities (EDA) phase is to produce the deta iled, complete, and fully integrated engineering design of the tokamak and all technical data necessary for the construction of ITER. The IT ER project will be a major step from present fusion experiments and wi ll progress towards a fusion reactor. It will also require the develop ment and implementation of major new components and technologies. The inside surfaces of the plasma containment chamber will be designed to withstand temperatures of up to nearly 500 degrees C, although normal operating temperatures will be substantially lower. Materials will hav e to be carefully chosen to withstand these temperatures and a high ne utron flux. In addition, other components of the device will be compos ed of state-of-the-art metal alloys, ceramics and composites, many of which are now in the early stages of development and testing. The main systems of ITER are the superconducting magnet coils and their suppor t, the vacuum vessel and the shield/blanket, the heating, fueling syst ems, the cryostat, the power source and the buildings. During operatio n the ITER device will sustain a controlled fusion burn for periods of greater than 1000 s. Numerous components, experimental packages, and test modules will have to be remotely installed and removed from the I TER device in order to test materials properties, component characteri stics and material lifetimes. This paper reviews the present status of the ITER design, its components and technologies.