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KI-78-09-613-EN-DAn international

nuclear community Global challenges need global solutions.

The energy question is relevant across the globe, and international cooperation is an essential tool for fi nding a common solution. As part of the energy mix, nuclear energy is one of the possible responses to this challenge, and because of the globalised nature of the sector there is clear benefi t from addressing issues at the international level.

The Seventh Euratom Research Framework Programme (Euratom FP7) offers renewed impetus for international cooperation on the subject of nuclear energy, under the umbrella of the 1957 Euratom Treaty. As expressed by FP7: ‘The international and global dimension in European research activities is important in the interest of obtaining mutual benefi ts.’ Both fi ssion and fusion research benefi t from international cooperation.

The ITER project is the biggest fusion research project ever, and is the culmination of decades of international collaboration in this fi eld. The seven members (China, the EU, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US) contributing to the project represent more than half of the world’s population.

In the fi ssion area, Euratom is an active member of the Generation-IV International Forum (GIF) aiming to exploit international collaboration in research on Generation-IV nuclear energy systems. Membership is the same as for the ITER project, with the exception of India (Russia is currently ratifying) but also includes Switzerland and South Africa.

In addition, there are numerous examples of bilateral cooperation in research throughout the Euratom programme, either at a programme or individual project level, often under the umbrella of formal international bilateral agreements between Euratom and third countries.

LEA

FLET

Nuclear Fission and radiation protection € 287 million

Nuclear activities at the JRC € 517 million

Fusion energy research € 1,947 million

The total budget for Euratom FP7 in the period 2007-2011 is € 2.75 billion and allocated as follows:

Unravelling the atom !Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter. In nature everything is made up of atoms, our bodies, the air, the sea. Matter as we know it consists of often complex combinations of atoms in a myriad of physical and chemical forms.

From ancient Greek philosophy to 20th century physics

The concept of atoms is very old: the fi rst reference dates back to the 6th century BC in India. However, the ‘father’ of the atom is the Greek philosopher Democritus, who, along with his master Leucippus, defi ned the atom as the smallest element of matter, around 450 BC. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did physicists, like Ernest Rutherford, begin to unravel the mysteries of the internal structure of the atom, consisting of a very small and dense central nucleus surrounded by a “cloud” of electrons.

Research – a thread linking scientifi c understanding with technological progress

Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2 (energy = mass times the speed of light squared) demonstrates the huge amount of energy locked up inside the nucleus. Later, pioneers such as Enrico Fermi showed how this energy can be released and exploited through either the splitting apart, or the fusing together, of nuclei. With this came the realisation that these processes could be harnessed for peaceful purposes to fulfi l everyday energy needs, and research, to this day, remains a crucial tool.

Responding to energy& climate change challenges Combating climate change and ensuring suffi cient sustainable energy sources to fulfi l society’s increasing energy demands: these are our century’s two main goals concerning energy. Nuclear research aims to fi nd economic and environmentally sustainable solutions to the challenges posed in realising these goals.

The tool with which the European Commission is tackling these challenges is the Seventh Euratom Research Framework Programme (Euratom FP7) with EUR 2.75 billion for the period from 2007 to 2011. Euratom FP7 is pioneering groundbreaking research, facilitating development of new technologies, enabling international cooperation, disseminating key information and realising education and training activities both in fi ssion (including radiation protection) and fusion nuclear research.

Euratom FP7 comprises two programmes specifi cally aimed at maximising future prospects: the ‘indirect’ programme focuses on shared-costs actions in fusion energy research, nuclear fi ssion and radiation protection, while the ‘direct’ one invests in direct research activities carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).

50 years toward sustainable nuclear energy Euratom marked its half-century milestone in 2007 and continues to build on strengths in R&D, always mindful of its original charter to promote the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in particular through research, including both fi ssion and fusion applications. The Treaty of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) paved the way for the development of the European civil nuclear energy sector, and in so doing expanded the European energy source portfolio. It appreciated the fundamental importance of research, and was very innovative for its day, introducing the concept of a Community (i.e. European level) research programme funded out of the European budget.

The keywords here are safety and security for both existing and future power plants, and Euratom research contributes towards maintaining a high level of nuclear safety in Europe. Today the focus of the fi ssion research programme is on implementing solutions for management of radioactive waste, increasing sustainability through the development of a new generation of reactors (Generation IV), and enhancing our understanding of the effects of low doses of radiation, for example in order to limit risks and maximise benefi ts from the use of radiation in medicine and industry.

Fusion energy has the potential to be a key component of a future sustainable energy mix, given its advantageous characteristics. As an energy source, it is almost inexhaustible, inherently safe and has a low environmental impact.

European research funded by the Euratom framework programmes directly addresses the issue of dwindling natural resources and is already supplying answers to the threat of disruptive climate change, thus promoting a more sustainable future for the ever-increasing needs of a changing world.

For more information:http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/

The ITER Project

Bringing the sun down on earth. The ITER project - the biggest fusion experimental facility in the world – aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the fusion energy as source of heat and electricity.

Boasting scientists from the EU and Switzerland, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the USA, this global consortium is set to build on the past 50 years of fusion energy research and to pave the way for the future commercial applications.

Together the partners are building a reactor to test the feasibility of fusion power.

This pioneering reactor is being constructed in Southern France, and specifi cally in Cadarache. The body responsible for delivering Europe’s contribution to the project is a European Joint Undertaking based in Barcelona.

ITER will not only keep the EU at the forefront of nuclear energy research, but will also stimulate industrial growth and establish it as home to the most innovative and expert minds.

Yes to energy,No to greenhouse gasesGlobal demand for energy is increasing. We need to move quickly to an energy mix model, that encompasses high energy effi ciency and low-carbon energy technologies. Fusion has the potential to become a key element of the energy mix solution.

Fusion is the process powering the sun- it can be argued that it is fusion energy that makes life possible on Earth. In a fusion reaction, two light atomic nuclei, deuterium and tritium, fuse together to form heavier ones. The result of that fusion reaction is helium, a neutron, and a tremendous amount of energy that can be used to provide electricity. Fusion power can provide in a large scale a continuous baseload power supply that is environmentally responsible and sustainable.

The fusion research quest

The huge challenge for fusion research is the creation of adequate conditions for the fusion process to happen in an effi cient manner so as to achieve net fusion power output. It is however thanks to the highly attractive advantages that make fusion research worth the effort.

Fusion produces no greenhouse gas emissions that have damaging effects on the environment and on climate change, or other environmentally harmful pollutants or long lasting radioactive waste. It is sustainable since fuel is inexhaustible. The basic fuels needed are distributed widely around the globe: deuterium is abundant, there are 0.033 gr in every litre of water and lithium, from which tritium can be produced, is a readily available light metal in the Earth´s crust.

It is inherently safe. A fusion reactor is like a gas burner and only about two grams of fuel is present in a a volume of around 1000 m3, but enough for a few seconds of operation. An uncontrolled “run away” reaction cannot happen. Fusion will have negligible operational and long term environmental impacts.

How Technology Platforms are leading the wayThe Seventh Euratom Research Framework Programme (Euratom FP7) is promoting best practice and EU added value across a broad range of fi ssion-related themes, ranging from management of radioactive waste to nuclear systems and safety, radiation protection, related training and use of research facilities. However, in the area of nuclear technology in particular, which includes safety of current nuclear reactors and also the development of advanced reactors for future commercialisation, there is an ever-increasing need to involve key European R&D actors, including from the industrial sector, in a broad multifaceted and consensual approach based on a commonly agreed vision for the sector.

Enabling Europe to retain its leading technological and industrial position in the fi eld of civil nuclear energy, while maintaining the highest level of safety, is the main goal for the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technological Platform (SNETP). Initially SNETP has served as a forum for discussion amongst key stakeholders working in the nuclear energy fi eld (industry – both vendors and electricity companies, research organisations, academia, and public safety bodies), who have now reached agreement on a strategic research agenda to realise their common vision.

Rallying around research

The members of SNETP are now starting the implementation of this strategic research agenda through the launch of collaborative research actions, thereby maintaining and driving EU competitiveness in the quest for more sustainable and secure future energy supplies. In this way, industrial, national and EU research programmes are being aligned, allowing technical decisions with political and socioeconomic dimensions to be made on a better informed basis.

Fission research,protecting the futureThe main areas of focus in nuclear fi ssion research include ensuring safety of existing and future power plants, radioactive waste management, development of advanced reactor systems, and use of radiation for diagnostic and therapeutic medical applications.

Nuclear energy already meets about one third of Europe’s electricity needs; it does not emit greenhouse or any other harmful gases, and reduces dependence on imported energy sources. The most recent evolution of this technology is in today’s third generation nuclear plants under construction in Finland and France. In addition, the Euratom research programme is studying the viability of advanced fourth generation designs. The appeal of Generation IV reactors lies in their much more sustainable credentials, both as regards use of uranium resources and their ability to minimise waste production. They will continue to exhibit top-notch safety and cost-effectiveness and, in addition, demonstrate enhanced resistance to proliferation.

With radiation being ever-present in current daily life, whether as part of the natural environment or from routine medical applications, fi ssion research under the Seventh Euratom Framework Programme (Euratom FP7) is also studying numerous aspects of radiation protection, for instance better understanding and therefore reducing radiation exposure risks , or, further optimising benefi ts in medicine applications.

Research is also forging ahead in investigating most appropriate methods for managing radioactive waste. This is the culmination of 30 years’ study on disposal in specially engineered deep repositories in stable rock strata, but the programme is also investigating methods to minimise the waste through techniques collectively known as “partitioning and transmutation”, in particular through recycling as an integral part of the nuclear fuel cycle.

Availability of suitably trained personnel and appropriate research facilities are essential in all these fi elds, and the Euratom effort is also committed to supporting initiatives in these key cross-cutting areas..

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1958 – Fusion research declassifi ed

following Atoms for Peace

conference in Geneva, Switzerland

1968 – Soviet T-3 tokamak

1976 – Joint European Torus

(JET) design works begin

1978 - JET

construction begins

1983 – JET achieves

fi rst plasma

1985 – International fusion

project fi rst proposed

1988 – ITER

conceptual phase

1992 – ITER

engineering phase

1997 – JET achieves

16 MW fusion power

2001 – ITER design completed

2005 – Cadarache

chosen as ITER site

2006 – Signature of the ITER

agreement in Paris, France

2007 – ITER

construction begins

1938 - Nuclear Fission fi rst

demonstrated by German scientists – O.

Hahn & F. Strassman

1939 – First theory explaining the fusion

generation of energy in the stars by H. Bethe

(Nobel prize in Physics 1968)

1942 – First controlled nuclear chain

reaction – E. Fermi (Nobel Prize in

Physics 1937)

1951 – EBR rector produces fi rst electric

power (4 bulbs) in Idaho, USA

1954 - First nuclear power plant

operational in Obninsk, USSR

1955 – Fist international conference

Atoms for peace in Geneva, Switzerland

1956 – First commercial scale

nuclear reactor at Calder Hall, UK

1957 – Creation of International Atomic

Energy Agency by the UN

1959 – First commercial

scale nuclear power in France

1964 – First Soviet VVER reactor 1974 – First 1000 MW nuclear power

plant in the USA

1979 – Three Mile Island

accident in the USA

1980’s – Nuclear power’s share of EU

electricity generation reached one third

1986 – Chernobyl accident in Ukraine

1996 – First operational

Generation III power

plant in Japan

1999 – WIPP (World’s fi rst deep geological

repository for transuranic waste) in New

Mexico, USA begins operations

2000 – Generation IV

International Forum set up

2004 – Construction of the Finnish deep

repository of spent nuclear fuel started

2004 – Finland orders Europe’s fi rst EPR

2006 – Landmark law for the management

of radioactive materials enacted in France

2007 – The Sustainable Nuclear Energy

Technology Platform launched

1947 – First kilo ampere plasma created

at Imperial College in London, UK

1950’s – Classifi ed research in the

US, the Soviet Union & the UK on

doughnut-shaped fusion devices

Fission

Fusion

Half a century of Euratomin the development of civil nuclear energy

19401930 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010