CANCELED: ITER: An International Project Aimed at Demonstrating the Scientific and Technological Feasibility of Fusion Energy

Fusion has the potential to yield clean, safe abundant energy that can be a major contributor to the US energy portfolio. ITER will allow scientists to study reactor-scale burning plasmas and explore the technical challenges related to the development of a power-producing fusion reactor. The ITER device will be capable of producing 500 MW of fusion power with only 50 MW of external heating power absorbed by the plasma for periods ranging from minutes to an hour.
The ITER partnership is composed of China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States; members signed a joint implementation agreement in 2006 which came into force in 2007. Since then, the member nations have established domestic agencies responsible for providing hardware components which will then be assembled and operated at the ITER site in France. This presentation will discuss the basics of fusion power, the overall design of ITER, and the latest construction and fabrication progress both at the ITER site and in the domestic agencies, with particular emphasis on the activities in the United States. The challenges and approaches related to such a large and complex international project collaboration will also be discussed.

Dr. Ned Sauthoff is a plasma physicist and director of US ITER Project Office, the execution arm of the US Domestic Agency for the ITER international partnership. Prior to the establishment of the US ITER Project Office, Ned was head of the Off-Site Research Department at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), where he managed research on leading facilities around the US and the world to address key fusion physics and technology issues. Earlier at PPPL, Ned developed x-ray instrumentation and performed research on tokamak plasmas. He managed design of the control and data system for the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor until 1985, headed the PPPL Computer Division until 1988, the Princeton Beta Experiment until 1990, the Experimental Projects Dept. until 1992, the Physics Department until 1994, and the Plasma Science and Technology Department until 1997. He is a fellow of the APS, the AAAS, and the IEEE. Ned received his BS in physics and MS in nuclear engineering from MIT, and his Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University.