Ikeda visits United States

From 14-18 May, NDG Kaname Ikeda was in the USA, where he attended the 50th Anniversary Celebration at General Atomics in San Diego, USA. Mr. Ikeda also met with managers of the U.S. ITER Project Office in Oak Ridge to discuss progress and issues related to the collaborative effort. The U.S. Domestic Agency is hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with partners Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory.

In his first trip to Oak Ridge, Mr. Ikeda also met with local Department of Energy officials and representatives of project partner organizations. He toured ORNL's Leadership Computing Facility, which supports the U.S. ITER effort, and the Spallation Neutron Source, a successful DOE project.

Mr. Ikeda met Dr. Raymond Orbach, Under Secretary of DOE in Washington DC, with whom he discussed the progress and management of the ITER Project. Mr. Orbach stressed the importance the US puts on keeping close to the construction schedule and budget for ITER.