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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 [...]

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  • Construction site | A guide to work underway

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  • 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 [...]

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  • 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 [...]

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  • 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 [...]

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Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

The changing fusion landscape

ITER hosting private sector workshop

Take out your smart phone and search your favourite news site for "nuclear fusion" or "fusion energy." On any given day, you will find articles discussing breakthroughs or innovative approaches to fusion. Dig deeper: you will find that the fusion projects under discussion are a mix of public and private initiatives—unique, because both sectors are still in the R&D phase. Not infrequently, you will find the current state of fusion characterized as a "competition" between public enterprises such as ITER and emerging private sector initiatives.

The ITER Organization is hosting an Inaugural Private Sector Fusion Workshop from 27 to 29 May. The outcomes from the workshop will help to establish priorities and formulate plans for how ITER will engage with private sector fusion companies going forward. (Click to view larger version...)
The ITER Organization is hosting an Inaugural Private Sector Fusion Workshop from 27 to 29 May. The outcomes from the workshop will help to establish priorities and formulate plans for how ITER will engage with private sector fusion companies going forward.
But is this the reality? Is it true that the public and private fusion sectors are in a race, and that the winner will make all others obsolete? Or—to ask a better question—if all parts of the fusion community share a common goal, what would be the ideal relationship between the public and private sector?

To answer that question, next week ITER will launch an unprecedented workshop featuring the leaders of these private sector initiatives. More than 350 fusion scientists and engineers—including representatives from more than 30 private sector fusion start-ups—will converge on the ITER site to present their achievements, their challenges, and their ideas on how ITER can help them. ITER, largely, will take the role of listener, offering worksite tours, discussions with experts, and brainstorming sessions on how to optimize collaboration while remaining focused on ITER's central mission.

The workshop is a first step, responding to a request from the ITER Council last November. For the Council to call for engagement with private sector fusion initiatives is, in itself, a recognition of the changing fusion R&D landscape. The nature and scope of that engagement is still to be determined.

Optimally, the goal would be to take advantage of the complementarity in public and private initiatives. ITER remains a sort of convergent national lab for all its Members, designed to enable repeatable experiments and long-term testing at industrial scale. By contrast, the private sector can offer smaller scale, more agile initiatives—leading to enabling technologies (e.g., better magnets and control systems), new physics, innovative materials, and concepts that involve a higher risk of failure.

Over time, the ambition is for this collaboration to lead to a "joint public-private narrative"—and, more importantly, a cross-sector approach to fusion innovation—in which the breakdown of information silos and the consolidation of knowledge can drive success.

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