Discussing ITER Neutronics

The fourth ITER Neutronics Workshop was held at the Château de Cadarache 26-27 May, attended by some 35 experts representing all the Members. Held roughly every six months, these workshops are the vehicle for discussions of overall strategy and co-ordination of ITER-specific neutronics, an opportunity to give progress reports and to exchange information on general advances and problems.

"Neutronics" is the science of calculating how radiation behaves using modelling techniques. This is very important for determining the nuclear heating, activation, radiation damage and the overall integration of machine, to ensure the safe operation of the ITER for workers and the public alike and as an essential part of the tritium breeding test blanket program.

This meeting was able to discuss the recently produced ITER neutronics reference model and saw the start of a big push to coordinate research at an international level to address nuclear analysis requirements. Some of the participants in the meeting took the opportunity to visit the ITER site and see for themselves the tangible progress towards the building of a machine which until now has existed only in the virtual world of computer models.