Headline News

Bai Chunli Meets with Peter Gruss

CAS President Bai Chunli met with Prof. Peter Gruss, president of the Max Planck Society (MPG), on June 20, 2013. They held in-depth discussions on a wide range of issues of common concern, such as the implementation of Junma (a joint talent recruiting program), development of the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, reform of scientific institutions, cooperation on popularization of scientific knowledge, and preparation for a ceremony honoring the 40th anniversary of CAS-MPG cooperation.

China Delivers First Load to ITER

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Program was sponsored by the USA, former USSR, Japan and some European countries in the mid-1980s, which is oriented to establish the first controlled thermonuclear fusion experimental reactor exploring the feasibility of nuclear fusion based on current science and technology, so as to provide a solid basis for production of immense energy for the human being. The process of neclear fusion is quite similar to energy released by the Sun, thus the controlled thermonuclear fusion experimental reactor is normally accepted as “artificial Sun”. China is one of the seven member countires of the program, which undertakes 9% of the total package to be procured for the ITER, including totally 64 conductors, e.g. the PF conductor procurement package (PF 2/3/4 and PF5), which are all fabricated by the CAS Institute of Plasma Physics. On January 12, the PF5 was completed, which was witnessed by both ITER and the China Internatinal Newclear Fusion Energy Program Excution Center. Then a long journey started from the Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) in Hefei, China to ITER site in southern France. The distance was covered by trucks and the container ship Lyra in 38 days. Three crates that had been loaded at Hefei on April 25 were delivered to the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Building on Monday June 3, three days ahead of schedule. The crates contained the first batch of ITER items delivered by ITER China to the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy (F4E): 737 metres of dummy conductor, in three lengths, to be tested in a mockup of poloidal field coil number five (PF5). The 14.5-ton load was also the first ITER item to enter the large on-site winding facility.