European ITER Manager Sacked
Leon
Officials want the project back on track
By Tudor Vieru, Science Editor
February 6th, 2010, 10:58 GMT
Prompted by the numerous delays and setbacks the ITER (International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project experienced over the last
couple of years, officials in the European Union decided to change the
management overseeing the continent's involvement in the research
initiative. Europe is the largest contributor in the international
cooperation aimed at achieving nuclear fusion, via the Fusion for
Energy (F4E) agency, which is based in Barcelona, Spain. Its former
director was French physicist Didier Gambier, who has now been
replaced with British fusion scientist Frank Briscoe.
The former director took on the job in 2007, and his term was
originally scheduled to last for 5 years. However, it would appear
that those in control were unsatisfied with his work, as they recently
decided to replace Gambier. In addition to sacking the F4E director,
the European Union is also taking active measures to ensure that the
ITER is brought online by 2019, which is one year later than the
current predictions have it, according to Nature News. The magnetic
confinement fusion facility (tokamak) is valued at several billion
dollars.
For the near future, plans are to begin experimenting with the ITER at
full capacity by 2026. By that time, engineers hope to be able to
demonstrate the viability and sustainability of nuclear fusion. They
plan to use superconducting magnets to show that, by subjecting the
plasma of heavy hydrogen isotopes to incredible pressure and to
temperatures exceeding 150 million degrees Celsius. According to
estimations, the facility will, at that point, begin producing ten
times the energy it needs to function. The European Union is in charge
of providing the location for the reactor, which is to be built in St-
Paul-les-Durance, in France, as well as 45 percent of the funding
required to bring it online.
Some believe that the reason why Gambier was fired was because the F4E
had failed to award some of the largest contracts associated with the
reactor, such as that for the excavations at the construction site –
which are already one year behind schedule – and for the vacuum
chambers inside. European Commission spokeswoman Catherine Ray said
that the EU believed Briscoe would bring forth the change needed to
get the ball rolling. “We trust that the new team in the F4E will
implement the necessary changes to allow the EU to respect its
commitments,” she said.