IEA/GB/RD(2006)4/2 Fusion Brief for the IEA Governing Board Following the Signature of the ITER Agreement by Participating

Governments on 21 November 2006 From ITER to Power Plants - The Roadmap to Fusion Power (Note by the Secretariat) Introduction and Background 1. Fusion is a nuclear process that releases energy by fusing together light elements the direct opposite of nuclear fission. This paper is to update the IEA Governing Board on the outlook for fusion power in the light of the recent agreement on the construction of the planned ITER facility. ITER is a milestone project in the development of fusion energy. Its objective is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power on a reactor scale (i.e. some 500 megawatts). In June 2005, the ITER parties, namely China, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States, agreed to embark upon the construction of the ITER facility at the European site of Cadarache, France. India joined the project in December 2005. The ITER Agreement was signed by the Governments on 21 November 2006. Ratification is expected in 2007. Ambassador Kaname Ikeda (Japan) has been appointed as the ITER Director General. The construction of the multi-billion ITER facility is perhaps the most substantial and concrete international collaboration project in energy science and technology. A cluster of multinational R&D activities will complement the ITER project and pave the way to the step beyond ITER, the construction of one or more demonstration plants for electricity production (DEMOs). Japan and the European Union have initialled on 22 November 2006 a bi-lateral agreement on the Broader Approach, a strategy to accelerate the roadmap to fusion power.

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The Roadmap to Fusion Power 4. The roadmap to fusion power builds on four main pillars (Fig 1) aimed at connecting a fusion power plant to the electricity grid in some 30 years from now. ITER project A number of experiments1 around the world have demonstrated fusion thermal power at levels over ten megawatts (MW) for a short time. ITER will demonstrate the feasibility of the fusion process by producing up to 500 MW of net fusion thermal power for sustained periods of time from hundreds of seconds up to thousands of seconds, and eventually steady-state operation. ITER itself will not produce electricity. It will provide the full-scale physics, and test the basic technologies, to build DEMO power plants. Physics programme in existing facilities - The ITER programme will be complemented by continued and co-ordinated experimental campaigns in existing and upgraded fusion facilities such as JET (EU), JT60 (Japan), and DIIID (US), and in new facilities with superconducting magnets (KSTARKorea; EASTChina) that are currently entering operation. Technology programme The technology programme is the framework where ITER components and systems, as well as DEMO concepts, components and materials, are conceived, developed and tested. Whilst ITER will be a test bed for innovative fusion reactor components and systems (e.g., the breeding blanket for in-situ production of tritium), DEMOs will produce higher fusion power and neutron irradiation, and tritium self-sufficiency. They will therefore need advanced materials that are currently under development. The characterisation of these materials is the objective of the International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), a key element of the technology programme. IFMIF should be run in parallel with ITER to ensure timely material qualification for DEMO construction.

Conducted in tokamak facilities - the most developed approach to produce fusion reactions (ITER is a tokamak facility). 2

IEA/GB/RD(2006)4/2 DEMO power plants DEMOs are expected to be the first fusion plants with electricity generation capacity (at a level of several hundreds megawatts). The DEMO plants will be connected to the grid to prove that fusion power plants are capable of reliable operation. They could pave the way to commercial exploitation of fusion energy in the second half of the century. Taking into account the technical time that is needed for the previous steps, the earliest that the first DEMO reactor could start operation, is around 2020, and the plant could be connected to the electricity grid in some 30 years from now. It must be recognised, however, that the fusion timetable requires a strong governmental commitment to accelerate the R&D programme and much faster decision taking than in the past.
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Physics Programme in Current Facilities (JET, DIIID, JT-60, Other Facilities) Basic Operation Extended Operation

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Fig 1. - The roadmap to fusion electricity

The role of fusion in long-term energy scenarios 5. Fusion power has a number of fundamental characteristics that make it attractive as a major energy source of the future. It holds the promise of safe and emission-free energy. The fuels required are lithium and deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen). Deuterium is readily extracted from sea water, and lithium (a widely available metal) is used for in-situ production of tritium. Over the past two decades, theoretical studies and the operation of a series of experimental devices have shown that the fusion process is inherently safe, in the sense that any perturbations of the conditions needed to sustain the reaction process lead to immediate shut-down of the fusion reaction. Fusion power plants have limited stocks of energy capable of causing accidents. Though fusion plants will contains a certain amount of radio-active tritium, the worst in-plant originated accident would result in limited release and hazard to the public. The fusion reaction emits no greenhouse gas and has neither toxic nor radioactive reaction products. However, inner parts of the fusion reactor structure do become radio-active during operation. A key requisite for the new materials under development for DEMOs is their ability to be disposed of as inert waste, recycled, or given shallow-land disposal no more than 100 years after reactor shutdown. The cost of fusion electricity will largely depend upon future advances on fusion physics, technologies, materials, and the optimisation of fusion power plant concepts expected in the coming decades. As a carbonfree source of power, fusion could benefit from whatever low carbon energy strategy may be in place at the time.

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IEA/GB/RD(2006)4/2 9. While fusion requires very advanced and, in some cases, proliferation-sensitive technologies, it is generally accepted that the proliferation issues are not comparable to those of nuclear fission. Fusion R&D Investment 10. The public R&D investment in fusion technology in the IEA region is shown in Figure 2 in the context of the total budget for energy technologies. Over the past decade, public expenditure for fusion R&D in the IEA region totaled some US$ 9 billion (2004 prices and exchange rates) with the European Union, Japan and the United States contributing almost all this investment. Though declining according to the general trend, fusion accounted for more than 10% of the total R&D spending on energy technology over the past decade. In the next decades, the ITER project will require 5 billion over 10 years for the construction of the facility, and 5 billion over 20 years for operation and decommissioning. Other resources will be invested in the physics and technology programmes, and in running the existing and new test facilities.

22000 20000 Million USD (2004 prices and exchange rates) 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0
19 74 19 75 19 76 19 77 19 78 19 79 19 80 19 81 19 82 19 83 19 84 19 8 19 5 86 19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 9 19 1 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 9 19 7 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03

Other Tech./Research Power & Storage Tech. Renewable Energy Nuclear Fusion Nuclear Fission Fossil Fuels Conservation

Fig 2. - Energy Technology R&D - Public Expenditures in IEA Member Countries

IEA involvement in the fusion R&D and contribution to the ITER project 11. While the IEA Secretariat is not involved in the fusion programme, the IEA Technology Network provides an essential framework for countries involved in fusion R&D. Important components of the ITER accompanying programme are being conducted within the IEA framework under the IEA Implementing Agreements and the guidance of the IEA Fusion Power Co-ordinating Committee (FPCC). 12. Three Implementing Agreements (Large Tokamaks, Poloidal Divertor, and Plasma-Wall Interaction) focus on physics experimental campaigns in existing experimental tokamak facilities that have been providing important contributions to the definition of the ITER physics and experimental programme. The experiments are conceived in the context of the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) in close cooperation with ITER. 13. Three further Implementing Agreements (Fusion Materials, Nuclear Technology for Fusion Reactors, and Environmental, Safety and Economic Aspects of Fusion) deal with material R&D, development of innovative components (blanket, divertor), and other key topics such as fusion cost estimates, safety, environmental impact, and demonstration reactor concepts. The Implementing Agreement on Fusion Material has been the technology incubator of the IFMIF project.

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14. Finally, two Implementing Agreements (Stellarator and Reversed Field Pinches), and one undergoing approval (Spherical Tori), deal with alternative approaches to obtain the fusion process. They exploit the potential of a number of experimental devices available in many countries and support fusion energy advances. 15. Sixteen IEA countries and the European Commission are active members of the IEA Fusion Power Coordinating Committee and/or participate in the Implementing Agreements. Among non-Member countries, Russia regularly participates in the FPCC meetings and is member of many Implementing Agreements, China is a member of the Fusion Material IA and has expressed interest in other Agreements, Ukraine is member of the Stellarator IA. India also expressed interest in joining some IEA Implementing Agreements. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) participate in the FPCC meetings and activities. The IAEA is active in promoting fusion research in a number of developing countries that are not Members of the IEA/OECD.

Conclusions (i) The recent signature of the ITER Agreement represents an important step in the fusion R&D programme, and an outstanding example of global technical co-operation; (ii) During the second half of the century, fusion could provide a source of inexhaustible, carbon-free power with high safety standards and limited proliferation issues; (iii) The IEA Technology Network continues to contribute to the development of fusion physics and technology.