European Fusion Development Agreement

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The European Fusion Development Agreement ( EFDA ) was a contract between EURATOM and the European Commission and individual national research centers from 1999 to 2013 that organized European research activities in the field of nuclear fusion research. The agreement was reorganized in connection with the eighth research framework program 'Horizon 2020' and launched on October 9, 2014 under the name European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy . The consortium has its headquarters in Garching near Munich and a further branch on the premises of the Culham Center for Fusion Energy (CCFE), where the European fusion experiment JET ( Joint European Torus ) is located.

The contract came into force in 1999 and ended in 2013 with the end of the seventh European framework program.

The individual national research organizations, so-called associations, signed contracts with the EFDA for their research in the field of nuclear fusion. The aim of the EFDA was to develop the scientific and technical basis in Europe for the construction and operation of both ITER and a future prototype reactor . To achieve this goal, the EFDA coordinated the research activities of its affiliated institutions and made it possible for all associations to take part in the European fusion experiment JET in Great Britain.

organization

Until 2007, the EFDA had three branches, so-called Close Support Units ( CSUs ): one in Garching , one in Culham and one in Barcelona . The latter was entrusted with the preparations for the ITER project at the future location in Cadarache. Large parts of the workforce of the CSU Barcelona continued their work in the course of the establishment of the Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy, which was set up for the ITER organization .

The EFDA management consisted of the 'EFDA Leader', the 'EFDA Associate Leader for Technology' and the 'EFDA Associate Leader for JET'. In the fields of physics and engineering, the CSU Garching was responsible for the European contribution to ITER, the development of commercial fusion power plants and system studies on safety aspects and energy scenarios. The CSU Culham was responsible for the JET's scientific program . This distribution of tasks is essentially continued in EUROfusion .

List of associations up to and including 2013

List of over 40 national associations that were bound to EFDA by a contract, including Switzerland as an associated member.

Web links