The ITER Project must succeed

Kijung Jung, previously Deputy Director General of ITER Korea, has succeeded Gyung-Su Lee as Director General of ITER Korea. Kijung Jung, who has a PhD in Chemistry from the Institut National Polytechnique in Toulouse, has been in France for half his professional career. In March 2006, he moved to the Korean National Fusion Research Institute to build up the Korean Domestic Agency for ITER.

Congratulations again for your appointment as Director of ITER Korea.

Thank you very much.

When did you officially take over responsibility?

I became Head of the Korean Domestic Agency on 15 October this year.

Is the Korean Domestic agency fully established and operational?

Yes, the Korean Domestic Agency was established in September of 2007, just about one year ago. We have now a total of about 70 staff members working on technical and administrative issues. And though we are closely linked to the Korean National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI), we operate as an almost autonomous branch with independent policies and a separate budget.

What role will your predecessor as director of the ITER Korea, G.S. Lee, play in the future?

Gyung Su Lee is now the president of the NFRI, and as such he is responsible for national nuclear fusion research and development. As far as the ITER Project is concerned, he is vice-chair of the ITER Council Management Advisory Committee (MAC) and a member of the ITER Council. So, he will play a very important role for the ITER Project in Korea despite his departure from ITER Korea.

So I imagine you will continue to work together in future?

As I said, ITER Korea is an independent branch of the NFRI, but there will certainly be close interaction between us and the NFRI. There is and, I expect, there will continue to be good relations between the Korean Domestic Agency and the NFRI. And good cooperation will certainly be necessary.

Who will act as your Deputy?

My Deputy is Joo Shik Bak who was acting as Director General in the NFRI during the construction phase of KSTAR following G. S. Lee, and as such he was responsible for the project. He successfully completed KSTAR construction and saw the project through first plasma in June of this year. He now has moved to ITER Korea to join me in successfully constructing ITER. His experience and knowledge will certainly be very helpful not only for ITER Korea but also for the ITER Project as a whole.

Constructing KSTAR, what would you say were the most important lessons learned?

Before KSTAR, Korea had no major fusion research facility at all. So, from this point of view, we started from zero. We gained a lot of experience during the construction of the facility, such as how to best fabricate the toroidal field conductors based on niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) like the ones that will be used in ITER. The lessons which would be of most interest to ITER technicians relate to the toroidal field coil joints and their leak testing, various aspects of the cryogenic system, silver coating of the thermal shield which has been adopted by ITER and the many interfaces of the magnets. It should be kept in mind that the general configuration and the basic concept of KSTAR is very much the same as in ITER. Thus, KSTAR is an important test-bed for ITER, and there is and will be active cooperation between the two projects.

What is the status of progress within ITER Korea? Have you started manufacturing yet?

Not yet, but we have signed the Procurement Arrangement for the toroidal field conductor on 7 May this year and we are currently preparing for the call for tender. Toroidal field conductor qualification samples are being tested at the SULTAN facility this month which should complete all of the Procurement Arrangement implementation plan requirements prior to the call for tender. We hope to be able to award the contract before the end of this year. At least, this is our target and we are striving hard to stick to this schedule.

What about the vacuum vessel procurement, when is ITER Korea going to sign this?

Recently we had a technical meeting between the ITER Organziation and the Korean Domestic Agency, and another technical meeting on interface issues in November. All major outstanding issues have now been resolved between ITER and our agency, and we have an agreement despite there being some open technical issues that we will have to discuss later. We would thus like to take the opportunity presented at the ITER Council this week and have the Procurement Arrangement signed by Director-General Ikeda and me in the presence of the Korean Vice Minister.

With all the publicity and news about KSTAR, do you feel an increased interest of young scientists and engineers in fusion?

Yes indeed! The ceremonies commemorating construction completion in September of last year and first plasma this year were covered by the media and made an important impression on the general public. Currently we are trying to set up a strategy to promote fusion energy among young scientists. Korea has recently started a study on policies for human resources development especially targeted at young scientists. We are hoping to educate many good young interested scientists through this effort. Also, though it is perhaps a little bit premature to elaborate on, we are planning to build a demonstration plant that will provide the opportunity for those young scientists to realize nuclear fusion power in about three decades.

A demonstration plant?

Yes, but this will certainly not happen before the ITER Project is successful. First we have to get this project running. That is the first goal. In parallel, we have to successfully achieve routine operation of KSTAR. Nevertheless a demonstration plant is part of Korea's long term outlook which we can discuss at a future date.

Talking about your personal background, how did you enter the fusion community? Are you a fusion scientist?

No, not really. I spent half of my professional career in France. First graduating with a degree in Applied Chemistry from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées in Toulouse, France, I obtained a PhD from the Institut National Polytechnique also in Toulouse. Between 1986 and 1993, I went back to Korea to work at the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), after which I got on the plane back to Paris to work at the OECD/NEA for three and a half years. From Paris back to Korea, I went on to become Director for Decommissioning projects at KAERI, then the Director of the Planning Division and later Director of the Nuclear Control Division and finally Director for Spent Fuel Management. In March 2006, I moved to the NFRI to build up ITER Korea together with G.S. Lee, and this year I succeeded him as Director General.

What is your personal feeling about ITER?

ITER is an important beachhead on the way to industrializing fusion energy in the future. As such, the ITER Project must succeed. If you sometimes see me arguing about ITER, this is only for the success of the project and nothing else. The ITER Project is unique in that it is a joint venture of seven members, seven different cultures. We must keep in mind these different cultures that are at work and the seven governments that work very differently. With this in mind, I recall that ITER has often been compared to a boat. For the boat to stay afloat, mutual confidence is very important.