Legal framework for Test Blanket Modules converging
3 Feb 2012
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Sabina Griffith
It was one of the coldest days of the year when the ITER management, including Director-General Osamu Motojima and delegations from the seven ITER Members, met in Cadarache to discuss outstanding issues for the Test Blanket Module Program.
ITER will provide a unique opportunity to test mock-ups of breeding blankets, called Test Blanket Modules (TBM), and associated ancillary systems in a real fusion environment. Within these Test Blanket Systems (TBS), viable techniques for ensuring tritium breeding self-sufficiency will be explored in the framework of the TBM Program.
The TBM Program has a special standing within the ITER research program in that the Test Blanket Systems are developed by the Members and remain the property of the Members ... even though they will be tested at ITER. It is furthermore an essential element of the common purpose of the ITER Members to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power for peaceful purposes.
That is why members of ITER Organization's management and delegations from the seven ITER Members came together in Cadarache this week, to discuss the generic "Test Blanket Module Arrangement." This Arrangement will be used as a template for the individual TBM Arrangements, which will govern the relationship between the ITER Organization and each Member during the development and construction of the Test Blanket Systems.
"The aim of the meeting was to converge on some outstanding issues in the definition of the template for the TBM Arrangements, so that the Members will have a common legal framework for working with the ITER Organization during the development and construction of the Test Blanket Systems," commented Luciano Giancarli, ITER responsible officer for the TBM Program.