Broader Approach

WORKS IN PROGRESS

The “Broader Approach agreement” is an agreement between Europe and Japan for the development of scientific research and development activities complementary to ITER, in view of the design and construction of DEMO, the future demonstration fusion reactor. The scientific and technological critical challenges of the fusion reactor will then be analyzed in separate experiments to overcome these hurdles before the actual construction of DEMO.

JT-60SA

The agreement is composed of 3 primary projects:

  • JT-60SA – an experiment equipped with superconducting windings, under construction in Naka, Japan, with the mission to demonstrate the achievement of long-lasting plasma pulses and to identify solutions for key problems, both in physics and engineering, for ITER and DEMO
  • IFMIF/EVEDA – the engineering validation of a international research facility for the study of the irradiation of materials by fusion
  • IFREC – development of a remote control center for the ITER experiment and international design activities for demonstration reactors
JT-60SA (image from Wikipedia)

The construction phase of the machine was completed in 2020 and the second phase of the agreement, the scientific exploitation of the experiment, has begun.

Marco Valisa, Activities Coordinator for the exploitation of the JT-60SA machine for Consorzio RFX

The contribution of Consorzio RFX to the Broader Approach:

JT-60SAwe contribute to the development and implementation of the superconducting coil protection system and the power supply system to control plasma instabilities called “Resistive Wall Mode“
JT-60SAwe are involved in the preparation of the research program and in the future phase of experimental exploitation
JT-60SAwe are involved in the supply of the JT-60SA diagnostic equipment such as the electronic temperature measurement system of the plasma by means of Thomson scattering and a Vacuum Ultra Violet (VUV) spectrometer
IFERCwe contribute with targeted studies for the design and construction of the remote experimentation center hosted in Japan
IFMIF/EVEDA
we contribute with the development and construction of a key part of the accelerator, the Radio Frequency Quadrupole, and we participate in the activities for the finalization of the overall project.
The contribution of RFX to the Broader Approach