ITER visit Cadarache
Speech by the Netherlands' Economic Affairs Minister, Ms. Maria van der Hoeven, during the ITER visit, Cadarache, February 19, 2008
Mesdames et Messieurs,
C'est un grand plaisir pour moi de vous rencontrer tous ici, dans ce magnifique Château de Cadarache. Le site est vraiment particulier: situé dans une région colonisée par les Phéniciens il y a plus de 2500 ans, ce château se trouve aussi face à l'endroit où se construit actuellement l'une des merveilles technologiques de notre époque moderne: le réacteur de fusion nucléaire ITER. En fait, l'histoire de cette région se résume parfaitement par cette phrase tirée du
site officiel de la ville de Saint-Paul lez Durance: « De l'âge de pierre à l'atome ».
J'aimerais remercier la direction d'ITER de nous avoir donné la possibilité de visiter dans le détail ce nouveau site et d'accueillir ce déjeuner, dont le but est de rapprocher les scientifiques d'ITER et les représentants des sociétés néerlandaises qui pourront peut-être vous aider à maîtriser la puissance du soleil.
Etant donné le caractère cosmopolite de cette rencontre, je propose de continuer en anglais.
Ladies and gentlemen!
I believe there is little need to repeat in English what I just said in French. Suffice it to say that it is a pleasure and an honor to meet you all here, and to bring together management and staff of ITER and representatives of the Dutch business community, who are eager to assist you in your work.
Earlier today, I was given a very thorough briefing on the state of affairs at ITER and on future developments. This afternoon it will be my pleasure to have a glimpse at the other side of the road where the ITER device will be built.
Being no scientist, I can only understand in the broadest - or, if you want, crudest - terms what will be ultimately going on at the ITER facility. Still, I am proud that the Netherlands has been involved in the international efforts to realize nuclear fusion since they began almost 50 years ago with a number of research machines in our own country. Nowadays, Dutch scientists and engineers are contributing to many fusion experiments worldwide, including the ITER project.
I am personally proud that I was able to make a modest contribution to ITER in a previous role, when I served as the Netherlands' Education and Science Minister. During the Dutch Presidency of the Council, I lobbied my colleagues and was able to persuade them that the EU should take a leading role in ITER.
My contribution to ITER was based on the conviction that nuclear fusion is a promising technology in our quest to secure a sustainable supply of energy for centuries to come.
Promising and credible: for fusion technology has a respectable history. It is, of course, not as ancient as St. Paul lez Durance, the village around the corner. But the tokamak, the direct precursor to the nuclear fusion reactor, dates from more than half a century ago, when it was conceived by the Russian physicists and Nobel laureates Igor Tamm and Andrej Sacharov.
The tokamak's development into a viable fusion reactor took longer than Tamm and Sacharov envisioned. Nevertheless, the expectation is that ITER will be able to produce power from fusion in the foreseeable future. In an experimental environment, I am aware of that, but it will mark an important step forward on the road to commercially viable fusion power.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, would be for the benefit of all humanity. For nuclear fusion holds many promises for the future:
- The fuel to feed the fusion process is virtually unlimited;
- There is no risk of proliferation;
- The fusion reactor is inherently safe;
- Radioactive waste generated by a fusion reactor will decay within about a century;
- And the fusion reactor does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.
Therefore, we have recently increased our fusion research budget, with particular emphasis on ITER-related activities. We hope that this increase will bring the realization of the ITER device forward, and thus contribute to the goal of fusion power as a commercially viable source of electricity in the future.
Even as an optimist in these matters, I am aware that this happy state of affairs will not be reached tomorrow or even the day after tomorrow. The Inter-Academy Council, the umbrella organization of 15 national academies of science including the French and Dutch ones, estimates that the first demonstration plants could be operational by 2035. Commercial plants could be on-line in about 2050.
But we'll have to take the long view to make this process work. Sustainable energy sources such as fusion are vital to the survival of the planet. And that is why ITER is so important, and why it is so encouraging that scientists and engineers from all over the world are cooperating here to solve the difficult puzzles associated with fusion technology.
Including, as I noted before, scientists and engineers from the Netherlands. I would like to mention their work on the development of advanced measuring equipment and of high-power microwave tools for plasma control.
I also remind you of Dutch research - not conducted at ITER but hugely important to its success - into the interaction of hot plasma with the material walls of the reactor and on the development of structural and functional reactor materials.
These are just a few examples. There are many more; time is too short to mention them all. Let me just emphasize that in the Netherlands, there is no lack of synergy between the research community and industry, for instance in the fields of integral burn control of hot plasma, of instrument concepts and that of materials and components technologies. Taken together, they provide excellent opportunities for timely solutions and test environments for key ITER components and the essentials of fusion reactor technologies.
Ladies and gentlemen!
In conclusion, let me give you a brief outline of what the Dutch industries represented here could do to contribute to your work. In the Netherlands, we have a range of specialized high-tech companies that are qualified - and, I must add, very keen - to help you in your endeavors. That they are capable to do so was recently shown by the delivery and installation of sophisticated, "Made-in-Holland" equipment at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
The Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry and a number of R&D facilities are working with those high-tech companies to raise awareness of fusion power in general and ITER in particular. One spin-off is the ITER-NL consortium. Today's mission is an example of how the consortium works: foster the industry's awareness of fusion power, and help them to position themselves favorably.
I could sing the praises of Dutch industry for a long time - their capabilities in the field of explosive forming, for example, or in the field of cryogenics, or non-conventional materials - but I guess the Dutch industry representatives here will be better sources for such highly specialized information. After all, they've come with me to meet their French counterparts. Their aim is to swap experience and technology and to forge individual strengths into powerful consortiums.
The road to full-fledged fusion power is a long one, ladies and gentlemen. We will all be octogenarians by that time. But still, you and I are part of it now. We have an obligation to work together, because we have an obligation towards the generations that will follow us.
Thank you and bon appétit!