ITER in Russia

Until now, fusion research in Moscow has been overseen by the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy (FAAE, former Ministry for Atomic Energy). The coordination center "Fusion - International Projects" was established in order to help FAAE to coordinate the Russian activities in relation to ITER. In the beginning of the ITER Engineering Design Activities (EDA), it was a Headquarters of the ITER Council, and Academician Velikhov was the Council's Chair. With the signing of the ITER Agreement on 21 November, the FAAE will take over responsibility for fulfilling the country's obligations on implementing the project. Furthermore, the Russian ITER Domestic Agency will be established by the end of the year. "Right now we are under extensive discussion where this domestic agency will be located," Dr. Vladimir Vlasenkov, Deputy Director of the Coordination Centre "Fusion — International Projects", said.

There are around 200 institutes involved in the Russian ITER activities. The major one is the Kurchatov Institute for Atomic Energy in Moscow. Secondly, here is the Efremov Institute in St. Petersburg, which is responsible for designing and manufacturing the hardware. These two organizations are candidates for becoming host of the Russian Domestic Agency. The decision will be made before the end of this year.

"Now we go from paper to hardware," said Dr. Vladimir Vlasenkov.