Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Tokamaks | Different approaches around the world

    Look east, look west ... tokamak projects are underway in different parts of the world. All of them are benefiting from and complementing the pioneering work al [...]

    Read more

  • Construction site | A guide to work underway

    Just like the ITER worksite, drone photography is also making progress. This view of the ITER platform is the sharpest and most detailed of all those we have pu [...]

    Read more

  • Vacuum vessel repair | A portfolio

    Whether standing vertically in the Assembly Hall or lying horizontally in the former Cryostat Workshop now assigned to component repair operations, the non-conf [...]

    Read more

  • European Physical Society | ITER presents its new plans

    The new ITER baseline and its associated research plan were presented last week at the 50th annual conference of the European Physical Society Plasma Physics Di [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | The platform's quasi-final appearance

    Since preparation work began in 2007 on the stretch of land that was to host the 42-hectare ITER platform, regular photographic surveys have been organized to d [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

The ITER circles of support

Known as ''Mr. Tungsten'' in the fusion world, Dr. Rudolf Neu is currently in charge of EFDA's ITER Physics Department . (Click to view larger version...)
Known as ''Mr. Tungsten'' in the fusion world, Dr. Rudolf Neu is currently in charge of EFDA's ITER Physics Department .
In terms of the number of individuals devoting their time and energy to the realization of ITER, there are of course the employees and contractors of the ITER Organization, currently estimated at 900 people. But this nucleus is surrounded by concentric circles of support without which the project couldn't succeed: the ITER Members; the ITER Council and its advisory bodies; the Domestic Agency teams and their manufacturing partners; and finally fusion associations all over the world.

A representative of this last category visited ITER last week as a guest lecturer for the Inside ITER seminar series. Dr. Rudolf Neu from the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) is known as "Mr. Tungsten" in the fusion world. Closely involved with the ASDEX wall upgrade and the JET ITER-like wall, Mr. Neu is currently in charge of EFDA's ITER Physics Department where he coordinates the research program in preparation for ITER's experimentation phase.

"EFDA activities are strongly aligned with ITER needs," said Dr. Neu. "Our fusion associations pool resources and share results ... results which are then extrapolated for ITER." Thirty fusion associations are part of the EFDA family, with responsibility for 14 fusion experiments that are currently operating or under construction. 

Among the exciting projects going on in Europe is JET's ITER-like wall experiment: "This is an experiment that uses the ITER material mix for the first time in a tokamak. We have already had manifold unexpected results from this experiment that we hope will give us new physics insights. This is truly an important experiment for ITER."

Dr. Neu also updated the audience on the Fusion Roadmap which draws out the step-by-step aims of Europe's fusion program, with the final goal of fusion electricity by 2050. "The European Fusion Roadmap sees ITER as the key facility for the development of fusion energy."

The benefit is mutual, according to lTER Director-General Osamu Motojima: "The European Union's high-level domestic program in fusion is very important for the ITER project. Having such support is very encouraging for us all."

return to the latest published articles