Villa Gernetto, April 27: Russia and Italy have signed a memorandum on intentions regarding cooperation in the construction of an experimental thermonuclear reactor — tokamak — and other initiatives in nuclear physics.
The memorandum, which was signed by the Russian Deputy Minister Sergei Mazurenko and the Italian Minister Maria Stella Germini, envisions the construction of the Ignitor experimental thermonuclear reactor on Russian territory by experts from both countries.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who addressed a news conference after talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said the memorandum ushered in a new stage in the atomic energy industry.
He especially underlined the scientific component of cooperation in this area.The Ignitor is the latest arrival in the tokamak family (machines that use a magnetic field to confine a plasma) of thermonuclear power-generating units. They were conceived by the Kurchatov Nuclear Research Centre in Moscow and are regarded as its brand produce.
Sources at the Kurchatov Institute said Ignitor, along with the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which Russian scientists are also taking part in, is a version of an experimental power plant with ignited plasma.
Ignitor is a compact tokamak with a big induction of the magnetic field. It has been designed for studying the conditions conducive to the development of a deuterium/tritium reaction.
The latter reaction has the capability for self-maintaining and requires a lower temperature to start than other reactions do, and that is why many specialists regard it as the basic reaction for the first generation of industrial thermonuclear power units.
Ignitor is quite compact in size, with a radius of about 1.3 meters. Its maximum output of nuclear power should reach 90 megawatts.
Experts believe an installation of this kind will have a service life of ten years.
–PTI