Spain and Croatia express interest in hosting IFMIF-DONES facility

The DEMO Oriented Neutron Source (DONES) infrastructure will help fusion scientists to test materials in an environment mimicking the conditions of the Demonstration fusion reactor (DEMO), the machine that will come after ITER. Thanks to a series of tests and studies that will be conducted in this facility, we will be increasing our know-how and expertise in fusion energy and get closer delivering it. At present, through a scientific collaboration between Europe and Japan, known as the Broader Approach Agreement, three scientific projects contribute towards the design of future fusion reactors beyond ITER. The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), in its Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase, is one of them. And when it comes to an end, DONES will take over.

Spain and Croatia are the two EU countries that have expressed interest in hosting the prestigious R&D facility. Fusion for Energy (F4E), acting as co-ordinator for the European activities of the Broader Approach, has been the recipient of these two expressions of interest and during a technical meeting, scheduled to take place on 10-11 May, the members of the technical panel evaluating the DONES files will agree on a timeline. Between June and July, the panel will visit the sites aspiring to host the IFMIF-DONES facility and during autumn all information will be reviewed in order to communicate by the end of the year a formal opinion to the Governing Board of F4E, consisting of the member states of the Euratom and the European Commission.