Half of the world, including Poland, helps build an artificial sun in France

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is being built in Cadarache in southern France, to explore the possibility of energy production by nuclear fusion. The same reaction is the source of energy in stars, including the Sun. It is assumed that the tokamak (the fusion power reactor) will produce at least 10 times more energy than it will consume.

The ITER project involves the European Union, China, India, Russia, the United States, Japan and South Korea - countries which together are home to more than half of humanity. Initially it was assumed that the cost of the project would amount to few billion, but now there is talk about the cost of 20 billion euros. European Union will finance 50 percent of the project, and each of the other countries - up to 10 percent.

Poland, as well as other member states of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) may participate in tenders and fight for participation in the study. The share of these countries is coordinated by the Fusion For Energy (F4E).

Prof. Roman Zagórski, Deputy Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion in Warsaw (Instytut Fizyki Plazmy i Laserowej Mikrosyntezy, IFPiLM), said in an interview with PAP that the ITER device nuclear "fuel" will contain deuterium and tritium. They are hydrogen isotopes, which have additional neutrons in their nuclei. Under appropriate conditions, the hydrogen isotope nuclei transform into helium nuclei, releasing high energy.

Prof. Maciej Chorowski from Wrocław University of Technology explained that plasma - hot ionized gas - within the reactor would reach the temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, almost 10 times higher than the temperature inside the Sun. None of the available materials could hold such a hot medium in the right place. It will be possible thanks to the electric and magnetic properties of plasma. Ionized gas can be closed in a magnetic trap. Plasma will virtually levitate in the vacuum chamber without coming into contact with the walls.

In order to produce such a strong magnetic field, scientists will need extremely powerful superconducting magnets. "And the magnets must be cooled - 269°C with liquid helium. So we have a paradox: in one machine, in the immediate vicinity, we have temperatures higher than inside the sun, and very low temperatures" - noted Prof. Chorowski. Since 2008, researchers from Wrocław University of Technology have been involved in the design of the cryogenic cooling system. Their tasks included verification of helium distribution system and conducting a risk analysis in the cooling system.

200 superfast cameras will monitor whether magnets in the vacuum chamber hold the plasma and whether it has the appropriate properties. Cameras watch the plasma and tokamak components, providing information about their temperature. Information will also be sent in real time to the control system, which ensures the stability of the generated plasma. "The team from Łódź University of Technology designs control and data acquisition systems for ITER, using modern technology and standards" - told PAP Dariusz Makowski from Łódź University of Technology. He explained that this includes processing software for camera images, data transmission and archiving system. Dr. Makowski noted that high resolution, megapixel cameras will film at high speed, 1000 frames per second. This will generate enormous amounts of data that need to be properly processed and archived. Researchers from Łódź University of Technology are responsible for the development of such a system.

The research commissioned by F4E for ITER also involves researchers from AGH University of Science and Technology, who participate in the work of an international consortium. "The ITER shield includes materials in which tritium will be produced in the neutron field. The element, which allows it to produce it, is lithium" - told PAP Eng. Wladysław Pohorecki of AGH . He explained that his team proposed and developed a method to measure tritium directly in one of the proposed fertile materials.

IFPiLM and the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Cracow also carry out work commissioned by F4E. This concerns the design of the device, which will measure the spatial distribution of neutrons emitted from the ITER plasma (so-called Radial Neutron Camera). In particular, the tasks of researchers include the selection of appropriate detectors, construction of a prototype and development of a calibration system.

Polish companies can also compete for F4E orders and participation in the ITER project. Representatives of the Wrocław Technology Park, coordinator of the participation of Polish companies in the ITER project, informed PAP in mid-March that so fat only one Polish company was involved in the project. At the end of last year, SMT Software based in Wrocław won a tender for IT orders for F4E. The agreement covers comprehensive IT services, i.e. software development , system performance measurements and advisory services.

Deputy Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion in Warsaw explained that the main objective of ITER would not be converting the generated energy into electricity. "The primary objective of ITER is to show that we can maintain controlled thermonuclear fusion" - said Zagórski. He admitted, however, that the research done in ITER should then help build the first fusion power plants.

Prof. Chorowski added that although the primary goal of the ITER project is the development of science, the "project would never be funded, if it were not a market for high tech industry" - commented Prof. Chorowski and added that it was a form of "public works for the industry". "Conscious economies treat such a project as part of self-development, and the economies such as ours - ancillary in fact - often carrying out work on the construction of a device such as ITER without long-term benefits of this fact" - he commented. In his opinion, Poland should use the opportunities offered by participating in the project.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Ludwika Tomala

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