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www.pppl.gov SHEET FACT ITER ITER and the Promise of Fusion Energy

What is ITER? ITER is a large international fusion experiment aimed at ergy, such as will be studied in ITER, magnetic fields are demonstrating the scientific and technological feasibility used to confine the high- with a den- of fusion energy. ITER (Latin for “the way”) will play a crit- sity typically one millionth that of air at sea level. ical role advancing the worldwide availability of energy For decades, scientists around the world have been ad- from fusion — the power source of the and the stars. dressing the development of fusion energy by studying To produce practical amounts of on earth, the underlying physics of plasma through experiments heavy forms of hydrogen are joined together at high tem- at universities and national laboratories. ITER is a critical perature with an accompanying production of heat en- step between today’s studies of plasma physics and to- ergy. The must be held at a temperature of over 100 morrow’s fusion power plants producing electricity and million degrees Celsius. At these high , the hydrogen. An unprecedented international collabora- electrons are detached from the nuclei of the atoms, in tion of scientists and engineers led to the design of this a state of matter called plasma. In magnetic fusion en- advanced physics experiment. Project partners are Chi-

Find us on Facebook. Check us out on YouTube. Follow us on Twitter. Access our RSS feed http://www.facebook.com/PPPLab http://www.youtube.com/ppplab @PPPLab @PPPLab PROGRESS IN FUSION POWER OUTPUT Fusion Thermal Power

1975 0.01 Laser in a DVD Player.

1980 100 Watts Average power consumed by human body functions.

1995 16 Million Watts Electrical needs for 6,400 average-size homes*.

ITER 500 Million Watts Electrical needs for 200,000 average-size homes*.

2,500 Million Watts Demo Modern electric power plant*.

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 Million Watts * Assumes 40% efficiency in the conversion of heat to electricity. na, the , , , , South Ko- to a national venture of the same scale. Components for rea, and the . ITER is technically ready to which the U.S. is responsible will be built under subcon- start construction, with experimental operations planned tracts with industry. to begin in 2019. The site selected for the project is Cada- rache, in southeastern . The experiment is expect- What Else Needs to be Done for Practical ed to operate for 20 years. Fusion Energy? Overlapping steps in science and technology are essen- What Scientific Capabilities will ITER tial for the development of practical fusion energy. ITER Provide? provides one major step, a burning plasma on the scale Scientific and technological advances in fusion research of a fusion power plant, but other, smaller elements are provide high confidence that the international ITER fusion needed as well. experiment will be able to produce a burning plasma. A A practical fusion power plant the size of ITER must pro- burning plasma is predominantly sustained at high tem- duce about five times more fusion heat than ITER, con- perature by the power of its own fusion reactions. ITER tinuously, with a gain of over 25. Configuration Optimiza- will produce 500 million watts of fusion power for a pe- tion involves identifying the most efficient and effective riod of at least 400 . The heat produced by ITER geometry for shaping and confining the will be at least 10 times greater than the external power plasma to meet these goals. The advanced , the provided to heat the fusion fuel — a “gain” of over 10. Con- spherical , and the compact configura- sequently ITER, an experiment the same size as a power tions are currently the leading options for taking advan- plant, will provide an essential bridge from previous phys- tage of the scientific results from ITER to meet the cou- ics experiments, which produced up to 16 million watts of fusion heat for time periods approaching one , to a Demonstration Power Plant (Demo) producing 2,500 mil- lion watts of fusion heat (1000 million watts of electricity) continuously with a gain of over 25. How Will the Costs for ITER be Shared? America’s decision to join the ITER project allows us to share the experience and knowledge resulting from the design, construction, and eventual operation of this es- Advanced Spherical Compact sential experiment at greatly reduced cost, compared Tokamak Torus Stellarator Configuration Optimization Construction Operation ITER

Materials Testing

Component Testing

Demo Fusion Power Plant

Underlying Scientific and Technology Development Programs

2005 2035 pled goals of high power, continuous operation, and high Knowledge obtained from the operation of ITER, coupled gain. Other promising innovative configurations are being with the continuing development of fusion science and studied broadly around the nation as well. U.S. domestic technology taking place in the U.S., will allow the oper- research on facilities investigating these configurations is ation of a competitive U.S. Demo around the year 2035. supported and supplemented by theoretical and experi- In the near term, the right strategy for U.S. fusion research mental research, as well as development of enabling tech- is to combine participation in ITER with innovative do- nologies, at universities and laboratories. Efforts also le- mestic research in the context of a strong overall DOE verage off of the National Ignition Facility to support the program. This strategy will provide the development of inertial confinement fusion as an attrac- U.S. with advanced scientific information, with trained sci- tive energy source. entists and engineers, and with access to ITER — for the It is U.S. innovation, coupled with participation in ITER, benefit of the U.S. and the world. which will allow the nation to be competitive in the world- wide development and deployment of fusion power. Fusion reactions Hot Fluid In a fusion power plant, the energy of motion of the high- occur in the hot plasma speed produced in the fusion reactions will be fuel converted to heat to make steam for the generation of electricity. The conversion to heat will occur in the cham- ber wall enclosing the plasma. The structural material of Turbine Fusion Generator the wall must withstand the energy deposited by the neu- Fuel Heat Exchanger trons. Attractive candidate materials need to be tested (Plasma) in small samples in an intense, narrow beam of energet- Electrical ic neutrons. Japan and Europe are partnering on the en- Power Output gineering design and prototyping for a facility to support Fast neutrons such tests. Beyond this, Component Testing in a larg- from fusion reactions er scale facility, more closely resembling a fusion pow- heat the moderator er plant, is necessary to support a successful U.S. Demo. Cool Fluid Fusion Energy + • Worldwide long-term availability of low-cost fuel. + Trtiui m • No chemical combustion products and therefore no contribution to D T acid rain or global warming. • No possibility of a runaway reaction or meltdown. + Fusion • Low risk of nuclear proliferation. + Reactoin • Short-lived . • Steady energy source requiring small land use and no significant energy storage, which can be located where needed. + Neutro • Estimated cost of electricity comparable to other long-term energy 4 + n options. He With these advantages, fusion complements other nearer-term energy Payback Payback — About 450 : 1 sources to address the world’s long-range energy needs. About 450 : 1 The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is operated by Princeton University under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy. For additional information, please contact: Office of Communications, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, P.O. Box 451, Princeton, NJ 08543; Tel. (609) 243-2750; e-mail: [email protected] or visit our web site at: www.pppl.gov.

PPPL FACT SHEET • ITER - FEBRUARY 2012