ITER Fusion Plasma Plan

Originally Published January 27, 2009; Last Updated May 19, 2017; Last Republished May 19, 2017:

United States Department of Energy's updated plan for participation in the joint International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project with a scheduled initial plasma by 2018 has been favorably reviewed1 by the National Research Council, Plasma Science Committee. Nations participating in this important joint international project include China, European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russian, and United States.

ITER Fusion Machine

The review¹ includes a ganatt schedule for achieving initial plasma³:

Res:

UPDATED 12/11/2016 ITER, ITER Organization Magazine August 2016

Web:

UPDATED 05/19/2017 ITER, Open Doors Day – 20 May 2017 and ITER, Visting ITER

UPDATED 04/03/2017 NYT, A Dream of Clean Energy at a Very High Price

UPDATED 02/24/2017 SA, Is Fusion Energy in Our Future? Our nation is not investing enough in scientific research, basic or applied.

UPDATED 02/03/2017 ITER, Flyover the ITER Worksite - January 2017
UPDATED 12/23/2016 RI, Fusion: How to Put the Sun in a Magnetic Bottle - with Ian Chapman and MITCNC, Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion? - Prof. Dennis Whyte

 

UPDATED 12/19/2016 PhyOrg, Tokamak is ready to test ITER's internal components
UPDATED 12/11/2016 ITER, Council Endorses Updated Project Schedule to Deuterium-Tritium Operation Operation and ITER, China signs final Procurement Arrangement
UPDATED 02/09/2016 PopSci, China's Experimental Fusion Reactor Hits Major Milestone
UPDATED 06/17/2012 ScienceDaily, Big Step Taken to Develop Nuclear Fusion Power

UPDATED 04/24/2012 ScienceDaily, Scientists See Solution to Critical Barrier to Fusion. Electron density as a function of plasma island heat leakage.

UPDATED 11/25/2010 WNN, Iter budget on hold again. 

UPDATED 07/28/2010 UPI, New deal puts fusion reactor back on track ITER US ITER JET, Fusion Basics Acronyms and Abbreviations U.S. Burning Plasma Organization 

 -----notes----- 

1. National Academies Press requires an email address input for free download of A Review of the DOE Plan for U.S. Fusion Community Participation in the ITER Program, Committee to Review the U.S. ITER Science Participation Planning Process, Plasma Science Committee, National Research Council. 

2. ITER has released a high-resolution (7 Meg) depiction image of the fusion machine or more popularly referred to as a Tokamak (other images are available too). 

3. UPDATED 01/28/2009 The overall objective of ITER is to achieve its first plasma in 2018 (was previously 2016) and produce 500 MW of fusion power for hundreds of seconds by 2020. ITER's efficiency estimates remains undetermined. 

UPDATED 08/14/2009: Total Fusion Power: 500-700 MW; Plasma Major Radius: 6.2 m; Plasma Minor Radius: 2.0 m; Plasma Current: 15 MA; Toroidal Field @ 6.2 m: 5.3 T; Plasma Volume: 837 m; Plasma Surface Area: 678 m.