23.07.2007 // ITAR-TASS

President Putin has approved the law on ratification of ITER agreements

President of Russia Vladimir Putin has approved the Law “On the Ratification of the Agreement on the Establishment of ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER Project and the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER Project,” adopted by the State Duma on June 27 2007 and approved by the Federation Council on July 6 2007.

The Agreement on the Establishment of ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER Project and the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER Project were signed in Paris on Nov 21 2006.

They constitute necessary international regulatory framework for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project – a project that will become a scientific-technical basis for thermonuclear power engineering, one of the safest and the most promising directions of power engineering. The objective of the project is to demonstrate the scientific and technological capacities of thermonuclear energy. The project is based on the “tokomak” system, a machine designed by Russian scientists for producing a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) magnetic field for confining plasma.

Since the project will be implemented in the territory of the EU (France), the Europeans are ready to cover 40% of the total costs and to prepare the construction site, including the necessary infrastructure. Russia will have 10% in the project, on both the construction and operation stages (including equipment supplies) and, just like the other parties, will have full access to the project’s database.

Russia’s participation in the ITER project will allow the country to strengthen its positions in the sphere of thermonuclear fusion and to train necessary specialists for involvement in future projects in thermonuclear energy and other spheres of science and engineering.

This $13bln project involves the EU, India, China, South Korea, Russia, the US and Japan, with the EU to pay 40% and the rest — 60% (10% each).

ITER will be built in Cadarache (France), while the base for ITER-related research will be deployed in Rokkasho (Japan). The construction of this 500MW will last for 10 years. The reactor will be operated for 20 years on a joint basis.

Unlike modern reactors, which are based on nuclear decay, ITER is based on thermonuclear fusion. In fact, it is an attempt to repeat – in laboratories and, later, in production — a process taking place on the Sun: nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes – deuterium and tritium – which produces neutral helium and a big amount of energy: 1 gram of deuterium-tritium can produce as much energy as 8 tons of oil.

The secretary of the Public Chamber of Russia, President of the Kurchatov Institute Yevgeny Velikhov believes that in some 20–25 years Russia will start operating thermonuclear reactors on a commercial basis.