Collaborations

 

​​The US/Japan collaborative agreement on tritium plasma, heat and neutron irradiation experiments (PHENIX)

This agreement runs from April 2013 to March 2019, and it studies irradiated materials used to face the plasma and serve as armor on the walls of the fusion chamber, in particular tungsten, to withstand high heat and neutron irradiation. The FSP is the US lead under Task 3 of this agreement studying tritium retention and permeation of irradiated tungsten.

ITER International Project

The Fusion Safety Program supports the ITER International Project, a large tokamak experiment under construction at Cadarache, France. First plasma is expected in 2020. Research data on tritium behavior, dust characterization, material oxidation, and component reliability, as well as computer code development is being shared with ITER. The FSP has a contract to provide safety and reliability support work to the US ITER design team.

US-PRC Fusion Cooperative Program

Under this agreement, the FSP is collaborating with the ASIPP in studying the tritium retention and permeation under high heat flux on plasma facing component materials. This is a renewable two-year agreement, presently from 2014-2015.

ROK-US Fusion Collaboration

Under this task agreement between the NFRI and UCLA, both parties cooperate on fundamental R&D important to fusion nuclear science over the time period of 2014-2016. The FSP has partnered with UCLA and collaborates on safety analysis computer codes such as TMAP and MELCOR, and in tritium permeation experiments to be performed at STAR. The FSP work supports the Korean test blanket system design.

The International Energy Agency’s multilateral technology initiative on the Environmental, Safety and Economic Aspects of Fusion Power​

Participants include: China, EU, Japan, South Korea, China, and the US. Presently, this agreement spans 2012-2017. The focus of this agreement is to demonstrate the potential for Fusion Energy as a very safe, environmentally attractive and inexhaustible source of power. The FSP coordinates the research in four of the eight areas of this agreement: in-vessel source terms, activation product source terms, failure rate base, and magnet safety.