Communication: EU contribution to a reformed ITER project

Fusion is expected to play an important role in Europe's future energy landscape as a virtually inexhaustible climate friendly energy source. The fusion reaction does not produce greenhouse gases or long-lasting radioactivity and the fuel is widely available and practically unlimited. By the end of this century, as fossil fuels will be phasing out of the energy mix, fusion could become a suitable complement to energy from renewables. This is particularly important following the 2015 Paris Agreement and the EU commitment to lead the way in decarbonising the economy and tackling global climate change in a cost-effective manner.

Thanks to advances in fusion research ITER, which means 'the way' in Latin, aims to bring significantly closer the prospect of meeting a large share of our electricity needs through fusion. Launched in 2005 and now involving seven global partners (Euratom, United States, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea and India) ITER is a pioneering project to build and operate an experimental facility to demonstrate the scientific viability of fusion as a future sustainable energy source.

Europe has taken the lead in this project with a 45% stake of the construction costs of which 80% is funded from the EU budget and 20% by France as the ITER host country (the other ITER Members' share is around 9% each). This cost distribution will change in the operation phase, with Europe providing 34%. ITER's construction involves over 10 million components being built in factories around the world. About 75% of its investment is spent on the creation of new knowledge and cutting-edge materials and technology. This offers European high-tech industries and SMEs a valuable opportunity to innovate and to develop 'spin off' products for exploitation outside fusion (such as the broader energy sector, aviation and hi-tech instruments like the NMR - nuclear magnetic resonance - scanners).

In July 2010, the Council of the EU mandated the European Commission to approve on behalf of Euratom the current ITER Baseline which was based on the assumption that the construction of ITER would be completed with so called First Plasma in 2020. The Council capped the budget for the construction phase at €6.6 billion (2008 values) up to 2020. These resources also cover the administrative costs of the Euratom Joint Undertaking 'Fusion for Energy (F4E)'. The costs for ITER have to be seen in the context of a significant energy transformation in Europe set out in the Energy Union strategy that is estimated to require about €200 billion annually in the next decade.

Since the adoption of the 2010 baseline delays and cost overruns accumulated, mainly due to design changes and manufacturing challenges owing to the 'first of a kind' nature of the project but also to weaknesses in its management and governance. These delays made impossible the completion of the construction within the expected schedule. In particular, following the appointment of the new Director General of the ITER Organization in 2015, intensive effort made by Euratom in collaboration with the other ITER Members to improve the management of the project and to contain the schedule and cost slippages led to positive overall progress in the construction and manufacturing activities.

Following a positive review by independent experts, the ITER Council endorsed an updated schedule and associated cost estimates for the completion of the ITER construction to First Plasma estimated in December 2025. This is the earliest technically achievable date for the ITER construction. This schedule does not include contingencies and therefore assumes that all major risks can be mitigated. The detailed schedule from First Plasma in December 2025 to full performance operation, using deuterium-tritium fuel (the so-called Deuterium-Tritium phase) estimated in 2035, was endorsed by the ITER Council in November 2016 as the basis for the new ITER Baseline.

This updated schedule and associated cost estimate enable Euratom to stay within the current budget cap set by the Council of the EU in 2010, i.e. €6.6 billion to 2020 (in 2008 values), thus ensuring that all necessary contracts can continue to drive progress in the construction and that additional delays and cost overruns can be minimised. This Communication specifies the resources needed for the ITER construction after 2020 under the updated baseline.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2017)232: The ITER project status http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2017:232:FIN

ESO: Background information: Troubled ITER looks for new path http://www.europeansources.info/record/troubled-iter-looks-for-new-path/

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