Advances in the management of the Ifmif-Dones project.
After the green light was given in Vienna last September, to finance the preparation phase of the Granada Particle Accelerator project, the parties involved in the ambitious project are organized into an Executive Committee to lay the foundations of the consortium and the European candidacy.
The budget for the construction of the Accelerator is estimated between 400 and 600 million euros, with an estimated time of 10 years and 20 for its operation.
In this preparatory phase of the project, last September, in the course of the European Strategic Forum of Research Infrastructures (Esfri), funding was secured reaching 4 million euros for development work in a period of approximately two years.
Ifmif-Dones (in English, International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility), which is the name of the Particle Accelerator integrated into the infrastructure complementary to the international experimental thermonuclear reactor project (ITER in English), which is currently being built in southern France , is an indispensable part for obtaining a new source of energy based on nuclear fusion.
The development of the fusion as an inexhaustible source of energy and with reduced environmental impact, is one of the main scientific and technological challenges of humanity. Achieving this new form of energy to commercialize it in a sustainable manner would be a giant step and would significantly solve one of the biggest problems we face worldwide.
After ITER, Ifmif is the most important facility in the European Fusion Program. If the project goes ahead in Granada, it will be a milestone in the Spanish scientific community and will put Spain on the map of international science.
Image obtained from www.independientedegranada.es