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The European Union and Japan have formed a partnership that is pushing the limits of fusion energy.
The Broader Approach agreement, signed in 2007, aims to accelerate the development of fusion through three R&D projects in Japan: the JT-60SA tokamak, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility – Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (IFMIF/EVEDA) and the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC).
The knowledge gained in these scientific activities complements ITER and IFMIF-DONES and will help Europe and Japan advance towards future demonstration power plants.
Fusion for Energy (F4E) manages the EU/Euratom contribution, while the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) manages that of Japan and hosts the projects.
In the initial phase (2007-2020), most of the European contribution came in the form of components and services provided by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. These countries provided about 80% of it, while the other 20% came directly by Euratom through F4E.
In the second phase (since 2020), the EUROfusion consortium is a main contributor, supporting and funding fusion research activities on behalf of Euratom.
JT-60SA is currently the world’s largest tokamak —a device using superconducting magnets to confine the plasma.
The experiment, located in Naka, offers a unique opportunity for scientists to test advanced plasma scenarios and learn ahead of ITER operations.
Over 500 researchers from Europe and Japan have been involved, and more than 70 suppliers have contributed to manufacturing its components.
Works started in 2007 and were completed in 2020 with the end of assembly. After a series of improvements, first plasma operations started at the end of 2023. In the coming years, new upgrades and operation campaigns will help the scientific community break new ground in fusion.
One of the challenges to deliver fusion energy is the development of materials fit to resist the extreme environment inside a reactor. IFMIF-DONES will test novel materials by using a neutron source that replicates fusion’s irradiation conditions.
Through IFMIF/EVEDA, in Rokkasho, Europe and Japan are validating the technologies for this neutron source. The facility hosts LIPAc, a first-of-a-kind prototype accelerator, with key components manufactured in Europe. After reaching full configuration in 2026, the teams are preparing for beam operations at unprecedented performance levels.
The project has also supported the development of other IFMIF systems, including the lithium targets and materials testing modules.
Three different projects are supported by IFERC :
- DEMO Design Research and Development Coordination Centre — it implements the scientific and technological activities required in DEMO design.
- Computational Simulation Centre (CSC) — it provides the fusion community with a state-of-the-art supercomputer to exploit high large-scale simulations on plasmas, materials, prediction of ITER performance, and DEMO physics design.
- Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) — its aim to carry out experiments on ITER remotely by demonstrating the technology for remote data acquisition and by testing the principles on existing tokamaks.
Europe’s main contributions are the provision of high-performance computing resources, and a roughly equal sharing of contributions to the other subprojects.
IFMIF-DONES is a future research infrastructure under construction in Granada, Spain. As part of the DONES programme, the accelerator-based facility will be used for the testing, validation and qualification of the materials to be used in future fusion power plants.
In 2025, Spain, Croatia, Japan, Italy and the EU signed the agreement to build and commission the facility. F4E manages the European contribution, amounting to 25%, and is present on-site to help ramp up the programme.
Civil engineering works are underway, and the parties have started the work to procure its technologies.
