Could fusion, the energy source of the sun and stars, be the energy of the future? Fusion has the potential to provide a safe, cost-efficient and sustainable solution to European and global energy needs. For this reason, the EU is part of one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world, called ITER.
It is an international collaboration and a unique project aiming to build the world’s biggest fusion machine. The ITER site is located in southern France.
Fusion explained
Fusion is the process that powers the sun and other stars. When light hydrogen atoms are heated at extremely high temperatures, they merge together, releasing enormous amounts of energy.
The most promising type of fusion for energy production is deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion.
These are the types of hydrogen that will constitute the fuel for the reaction inside ITER.
Fusion in Europe
Fusion science and technology have a long history in Europe and their development was accelerated from 1957 by the Euratom Treaty, which established a European atomic energy community.
Since then, Euratom coordinates the European fusion research through the funding to its Joint Undertaking Fusion for Energy and to EUROfusion - a pan-European consortium with 30 members in 29 countries - with the aim of developing fusion plants as quickly as possible.
European fusion research follows a long-term strategy set out in the European research roadmap. Specifically, it outlines the general path for achieving fusion energy on the grid in the second half of the century.
A new fusion landscape
In recent years, the fusion landscape has notably changed, due to technological breakthroughs and the emergence of new private initiatives working to achieve fusion energy, moving beyond large public investment in research only. As indicated in Mario Draghi’s report (2024) on the future of European competitiveness, we need to create ‘a stable and predictable fusion ecosystem for industrial innovation, leveraging the ITER project, while ensuring a clear technology development roadmap.’
A coherent EU-level approach should be adopted to facilitate research and technology innovation, incentivise private sector engagement, de-risk investments when necessary, and create the environment where private companies and publicly funded research organisations work hand in hand towards a common goal – bringing fusion energy to the grids.
EU businesses and fusion
The ITER project, besides strengthening EU leadership in fusion research, also creates new skills, jobs, and business opportunities for both small and established companies in Europe.
The European Commission has over the past years organised a series of events on national level to better inform European businesses about ITER and the procurement opportunities it offers.
- 3-4/7/2024 - EU Fusion Business Forum in Berlin (DE)
- 23/4/2024 – EU Blueprint for Fusion Energy in Strasbourg (FR)
- 29-30/3/2022 - The Nordic ITER Business Forum in Copenhagen (DK)
ITER – governance and goals
The birth of ITER is hard to define, but the Summit between US President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union’s General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva 1985 was an important milestone. At that meeting, Gorbachev proposed to set up an international cooperation to develop fusion energy for peaceful purposes, which would later develop into ITER.
The ITER agreement was signed by China, Euratom (represented by the European Commission), India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA in 2006. Together, they govern the ITER Organization, which is responsible for constructing and managing the project. The main governing body of the ITER Organization is the ITER Council where the seven members meet twice a year to guide and steer the project.
- 20231 December
European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, and Japan’s Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Masahito Moriyama, officially inaugurated the JT-60SA facility.
- 202021 July
The European Council agreed on the long-term EU budget 2021-2027, including ITER.
- 201807 June
The Commission adopted a proposal for a Council decision on EU funding ITER for the period 2021-2027
- 201817 April
The Council of the EU adopts its conclusions on the communication and reaffirms its continued commitment to the ITER project
- 201714 June
The Commission revises the EU contribution to ITER, in accordance with the baseline
- 201615-16 June
The ITER Council adopts a new baseline of the project and sets the earliest technically available date for the first operation of the machine at December 2025
- 20071 June
The Broader Approach agreement, signed jointly by Japan and the EU, enters into force
- 200719 April
The European body Fusion for Energy (F4E) is established for a period of 35 years
- 200621 November
The ITER agreement is signed by China, South Korea, the United States, India, Japan, Russia and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)
ITER’s goal is to prove that a fusion plasma can produce 10 times the thermal power injected into the plasma. ITER will be a purely experimental facility that will not produce electricity; however, the fusion device that will follow it, DEMO, will aim to model a real fusion plant and produce electricity from the fusion energy generated. DEMO is expected to lead to commercial fusion power plants.
Participating in ITER represents an investment in a disruptive technology that could form an integral part of the European energy mix in the second half of the century.
As a low-carbon, climate-friendly solution, fusion could work in tandem with renewable energy sources to create a balanced and sustainable mix. To further support fusion innovation and development, the EU allocated €5.6 billion to the project in the EU budget for 2021-2027.
Key figures on ITER
Fusion for Energy and industry engagement
ITER Members have a domestic agency that manages their contributions to the project. The EU’s domestic agency is Fusion for Energy (F4E) in Barcelona, Spain. It is responsible for delivering Euratom’s contribution to the ITER project and the Broader Approach (EU-Japan agreement on fusion), and works with companies and research organisations in the EU to achieve this.
By participating in ITER, the EU makes substantial investment in European industry. More than €6 billion has already been invested in this way, which has a strong and positive impact on the European economy in terms of economic growth, boosting employment and technological innovation.
In September 2024, Fusion for Energy and EUROfusion launched the European Fusion Technology Marketplace, with the aim to facilitate the transfer of fusion-related technologies to other domains. The platform offers companies and experts a diverse portfolio of market-ready technologies developed by F4E’s industrial partners and EUROfusion affiliated laboratories.
A study on the impact of ITER, as well as other fusion projects within the Broader Approach, on the EU economy further showed that ITER generated a net impact worth €104 million between 2008-2019. Moreover, companies that have produced components and provided services for ITER have reported being able to expand their facilities, upgrade equipment, and hire staff.
The Broader Approach
In parallel to their collaboration on the ITER project, the EU and Japan are working together under a separate agreement since 2007, referred to as the Broader Approach. It covers cooperation on 3 fusion-related projects, all located in Japan, aiming to complement ITER and accelerate the development of fusion power.
Documents
Related links
- ITER
- Fusion for Energy (F4E)
- EUROfusion
- European Fusion Technology Marketplace
- Fusion energy (DG Research and innovation )
- Studies on ITER and fusion
- In focus article on fusion energy and ITER (May 2021)
- Videos
- ITER Technology (2022)
- ITER Ecology (2022)
- What is fusion? How can it change our future? (Fusion for Energy – May 2020)