OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2008. The agreement will be signed by the deputy director general of ITER Organization Norbert Holtkamp and the president of Kurchatov Institute Yevgeny Velikhov.

The head of the staff of the Military-Industrial Committee of the Government of the Russian Federation I.Borovkov, the acting head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy I.Kamenskikh, the head of the Federal Agency for Science and Innovations S.Mazurenko, the heads of companies and research institutes involved in the ITER project have been invited to attend the signing ceremony.

After signing the agreement the sides will give a press-conference.

The agreement for the supply of a superconductor for the magnet system of toroidal field between the ITER Organization and the ITER Agency “Kurchatov Institute” is the first of the basic contracts supposed to ensure the successful cooperation of the parties to the ITER project. Similar agreements have already been signed by the ITER Organization and the ITER agencies of Japan and the EU. The agreement specifies the rights and duties of the parties under Russia’s ITER commitments. Particularly, the agreement says that Russia’s obligation is to produce, deliver and test necessary equipment.

The initiator of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project was the Soviet Union, which proposed building a modern reactor on the basis of the experience of four leading international programs on controlled thermonuclear synthesis. The United States, together with the European Union and Japan, suggested ways to implement such a project. Presently, the project involves Russia, the EU, China, the US, Japan, India and South Korea.

The estimated thermonuclear capacity of ITER is 500MW. The project is supposed to last for nine years. The technical basis of the reactor was ready in 2001. On June 28 2005 the parties to the project met in Moscow and decided to build the reactor in France (Nuclear Center in Cadarache). 

India, with its strong research and technological potential, joined the project in late 2005.

The ITER Agreement took force on Oct 24 2007.

The first meeting of the ITER Council (the governing body of ITER Organization) took place in Cadarache (France) on Nov 27–28 2007.

Russia was represented by a delegation of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy, led by ITER Council member, then deputy head of Rosatom Ivan Kamenskikh. The other members of ITER Council from the Russian Federation were the deputy head of the staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Borovkov, the head of Rosnauka (Federal Science Agency) Sergey Mazurenko and the president of Kurchatov Institute Yevgeny Velikhov.

The Council elected EU representative Christopher Llewellyn Smith as their chairman and the president of Kurchatov Institute, laureate of Global Energy International Prize, academician Yevgeny Velikhov as vice chairman.

Thermonuclear reactor uses the energy produced by synthesis of hydrogen isotope nuclei. Isotope burning produces no radioactive waste. The reaction takes place in plasma under a temperature of 150,000,000 C. One unit of thermonuclear fuel produces 10,000,000 times more energy than organic fuel and almost 100 times more than uranium nuclei.

The key advantages of thermonuclear reactor are as follows:

— you have inexhaustible reserves of fuel for the reactor – water.
— you can build the reactor wherever you like,
— the reactor is safe as it does not emit radiation.