Boost to Dutch innovation for and by nuclear fusion
Consortium ITER-NL brings together science and industry for construction of fusion reactor
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has awarded a grant of €8 million from the Economic Structure Enhancing Fund (the 'natural gas profits') to the ITER-NL consortium for the realisation of the ITER-NL2 programme: "Innovation for and by ITER". Since 2006, the knowledge institutions TNO, NRG and FOM Rijnhuizen have worked together in ITER-NL on a maximum participation of Dutch researchers and companies in the construction and exploitation of the International Experimental Fusion Reactor ITER. Since January 2010, the consortium has been strengthened with the addition of Eindhoven University of Technology.
Dutch research organisations and companies can make an important contribution to the development of new technologies needed for the construction of the fusion reactor and the associated instruments. ITER-NL2 brings together the Dutch expertise necessary for the construction of systems for ITER. The consortium wants to maximise the possibilities for Dutch researchers to scientifically exploit ITER and to provide the Dutch private sector with good access to this high-tech project. The expected turnover and spin-offs (products and services) for the Dutch private sector are considerable.
Three advanced instruments
The scientific programme of ITER-NL2 is concentrated around three advanced instruments, which are essential for the control and stabilisation of the fusion fuel, a hot plasma with a temperature of more than one-hundred million degrees Celsius. The Netherlands can make an important contribution here through the combination of scientific expertise and industrial know-how. ITER-NL is therefore involved in three European consortia, partnerships of mainly European fusion research institutes that have agreed to join forces for the design and supervision of the construction of various pieces of scientific equipment that are vital for the success of ITER.
The consortium ECHUL (Electron Cyclotron Heating Upper Launcher) is developing an instrument that can transmit precisely focused bundles of microwaves, totalling 20 megawatt, in the reactor. These microwave bundles heat the turbulent fusion fuel very precisely, and can bring undesired irregularities in the fuel under control. Within the ECHUL consortium, ITER-NL2 is mainly focusing on the Remote Handling (the remote operation, maintenance and repair of ITER using robots) and the stabilisation and control of the plasma (Feedback Control).
The second consortium, CXRS (Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy), is focusing on an optical measurement system that can accurately map the movement and temperature of the hot fuel plasma in ITER. The future spectrometers for ITER will therefore play a key role in the management and optimisation of energy production from fusion. At the start of August, ITER-NL delivered a prototype CXRS diagnostic tool, realised in close corporation with a number of Dutch companies and the German research institute ForschungsZentrum Jülich, to the German reactor TEXTOR where the system is being tested. After that there are plans to incorporate the diagnostic tool in the JET reactor in the United Kingdom, the current record holder for generated fusion energy and the forerunner of ITER.
The LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) consortium is working on an advanced optical radar system to determine temperatures and densities within the fusion reactor. In the CXRS and LIDAR consortia, ITER-NL is collaborating with the Dutch private sector, especially in the areas of optomechanics and neutronics.
About ITER
The international fusion reactor ITER is the next step in the use of fusion energy as a sustainable source of energy. ITER has been developed to generate 500 megawatt capacity from fusion reactions, whereas only 50 megawatt is needed to heat up the fuel. The reactor is being constructed in an international collaboration between the European Union, the United States , the Russian Federation , China , India and South Korea. Due to the unprecedented broad collaboration, the project has a considerable political status. ITER is one of the most complex and innovative projects with a distinct high-tech character that is currently taking place in the world.
Contact details
Noud Oomens
Programme Director ITER-NL, FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen
telephone +31 (0)30 609 68 25
Peter Verhoeff
Executive Board ITER-NL, TNO Science and Industry
telephone +31 (0)15 269 21 83
Websites
www.iter-nl.nl
www.fusie-energie.nl
www.iter.org