Four implementing members of SIFFER (Image by ASIPP)

China and France are making joint efforts to build a Sino-French Fusion Energy Center (SIFFER) to support the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project and its members as well as to develop and validate key components and technology for magnetic confinement fusion devices.

The unveiling ceremony of the joint center, held at Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, China on Jan 11, was attended by senior officials of ITER and local governments.

Under the framework of the Sino-French Fusion Energy Center Implementing Agreement, the center is jointly established by its four members, namely, ITER-China, the Institute of Plasma Physics, the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (ASIPP), the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP) and the Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives (CEA).

Based on common interests, SIFFER will conduct research on fusion science and experimental physics, safety standards and technical standards for fusion energy and the next generation of fusion research devices.

According to the Implementing Agreement, tungsten divertor of Tungsten (W) Environment in steady state Tokamak, as SIFFER’s first joint research project, is now on track.