(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Many come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance, where results often follow only after completion of the programmes.
Budget for 2021-2027
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Rationale and design of the programme
The ITER-related EU action supports the construction and future operation of ITER, which will be the first experimental device to test the feasibility of fusion as a future source of energy.
ITER is being built in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance (France) to prove the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion as a future source of sustainable energy, which would be a major contribution to the EU’s long-term goal of decarbonising the energy system.
The risk, costs, and long-term nature of a large research project such as ITER put it beyond the reach of individual EU Member States and call for action at the EU level and beyond. A global framework has been established among seven international partners (Euratom, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States – representing more than half of the world’s population) to support ITER’s construction, which started in 2007. Euratom provides 45% of all components and cash contributions to ITER through its Joint Undertaking, Fusion for Energy (F4E).
The general objective of the ITER-related EU action in the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework is to fully support the continuation of ITER’s construction to reach the first experimental operations and to lay grounds for a successful full-power operation by 2035.
Europe’s support to ITER and to other activities related to ITER, such as the ‘Broader Approach’ activities with Japan, contributes to the strategic agenda of the EU for clean and secure energy. ITER is stimulating the European industrial investment in new advanced technologies for the components of the facility and in advanced civil engineering for its construction.
The EU’s participation to ITER pursues five specific objectives:
- to provide sufficient performance-based funding to ITER for its operations, particularly the assembly of the installation from the components arriving from individual ITER members;
- To ensure the delivery of EU components by the Fusion for Energy (F4E) Joint Undertaking in line with the project’s schedule and strategies, in particular its construction and assembly strategies;
- to offer European high-tech industries and small and medium-sized enterprises a valuable opportunity to innovate and develop ‘spin-off’ products for exploitation outside fusion;
- to secure continued EU leadership in the project by ensuring the timely delivery of EU components and active participation in ITER governance processes;
- to continue activities with Japan (‘Broader Approach’) on the satellite tokamak JT‑60SA operation and on the development of a full-scale material testing facility (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility / DEMO Oriented Neutron Source) to ensure that all technical and scientific elements needed for the design of a fusion-based power generation device for demonstration are in place.
The programme covers the EU’s contribution to ITER, both in cash and in kind, for the construction of the ITER facility, which includes the procurement of equipment, installation, general, technical, and administrative support for the construction phase and participation in commissioning and operations.
The programme also covers other ITER-related activities, such as the ‘Broader Approach’ activities with Japan.
These contributions are delivered through the Fusion for Energy (F4E) Joint Undertaking, the European domestic agency for ITER, located in Barcelona (Spain).
Indirect management is entrusted to the Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy. The lead Directorate General (DG) of the European Commission is DG Energy.
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The programme is a continuation of its 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework predecessor. In line with the Commission Communication COM(2017)319 on the ‘EU contribution to a reformed ITER project’, that specified the resources needed for the ITER construction after 2020, the budget of the programme for the 2021-2027 period has almost doubled. The increase is related to the delays in the execution of the project, additional works required for the planned scope of the project, in particular for the erection of the project buildings and other civil engineering construction, the complexities in the procurement of the first of the kind equipment for the fusion plant and its installation inside the machine, and the increased regulatory and nuclear safety requirements.
Programme website:
- The Europa site on F4E and ITER (https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/technology-and-innovation/fusion-energy-and-iter_en) is a valuable source of information of the ITER project and fusion energy in general.
- The site of the Joint Undertaking F4E (https://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/) presents the activities of the European Union’s organisation (Domestic Agency) managing Europe’s contribution to ITER.
- The website of the ITER organisation (https://www.iter.org/) provides updated information on the project addressing the needs of the public, the press, scientists and the industry.
- The EUROfusion roadmap (https://www.euro-fusion.org/eurofusion/roadmap/) forms the basis for the programmes of EUROfusion and F4E and provides a structured way forward to commercial electricity from fusion.
Impact assessment:
- The ex ante evaluation of ITER was adopted on 7 June 2018: SWD(2018) 325.
Relevant regulation:
- The legal basis is Council Decision (Euratom) 2021/281 of 22 February 2021 amending Decision 2007/198/Euratom establishing the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy and conferring advantages upon it.
Evaluations:
- The mid-term progress report in accordance with Article 5b of the Council Decision 2013/791/Euratom has been adopted on 21 March 2019. Eight external studies related to ITER/fusion were conducted between 2018 and 2023. They are available at: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/studies/final-studies_en?f%5B0%5D=topics_topics%3A72).
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
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Financial programming:
- EUR 1 058.1 million (- 19%)
compared to the legal basis*
* Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.
- The commitment profile over the 2021–2027 period, which amounted to EUR 5.179 million up to last year, has been significantly revised in 2023 to be aligned on a more actual assessment of the project needs known at this date. The original commitments for the period were based on too optimistic project progress planning defined in the 2016 baseline estimates. As ITER is an industrial research project under construction, the budgetary needs have not been linear.
- After years of steady progress, challenges have contributed to slow-down the implementation of the project like Covid-19 pandemic, quality issues of some key components delivered by non EU-Members and difficulties to comply with the regulatory environment. The ITER Council asked the ITER Organisation to redefine a New Baseline. The revised baseline is expected end of 2024.
- In 2023, additional uncertainties in the project schedule and technical difficulties further reduced the ability of Fusion for Energy to place contracts as expected and this explains the reduced budget request compared to the legal basis.
- The objective of the Governing Board of F4E was to bring F4E’s annual budgets closer to the expected execution levels at the end of each budgetary year and to limit the level of unused appropriations at the end of the current MFF, while preserving the financing capacity of F4E on the long-term.
- Euratom has decided to return to the European budget additional EUR 400 million in 2023 and transfer to other budget lines EUR 16.9 million. This decision reduced the available budget of F4E for year 2023 to 2027 (EUR 290 million for 2023, EUR 120 million for 2024 and EUR 2.3 million for the 3 following years). This completes adjustments of EUR 435 million made previously. Additional budget decrease could be decided for the remaining years of this MFF
Budget performance – implementation
Multiannual cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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Voted budget implementation (million EUR)(1):
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The ITER Organization and the domestic agencies of all ITER Parties have continued the implementation of the revised construction strategy agreed by the ITER Council.
89.1% of the total budget of Euratom participation funded from the EU budget has been allocated to operational lines in 2022, the remainder being allocated to support expenditure. In 2023, the corresponding percentage is 87.9%.
In 2023, the payment budget was reduced by EUR 264 million in relation to the slowdown of the project, leading to a decrease of the amount of the Euratom cash contribution to the ITER organisation, and delays in the deliveries of some major contracts.
The main actions funded from the EU budget in 2021 - 2023 focused on procurement activities by F4E included in the work programmes as adopted by the Governing Board of F4E. Up to now, the financial implementation of the programme has been impacted by delays in procuring the components, from all the domestic agencies of ITER Parties, including F4E. These delays have been due to the lingering effects of COVID-19 as well as the technological complexity and first-of-a-kind nature of many components and of the assembly activities on the project site.
Due to the global slowdown of the project at the level of the ITER Organization and F4E, the 2023 EU in-cash contribution was reduced by EUR 180 million in commitments and EUR 50 million in payments in the adopted 2023 budget compared to the draft budget submitted in May 2022.
The work programme for 2023 (with the reduced EU contribution) was approved by the Governing Board meeting of December 2022. The three activities with the highest budget included ‘Buildings and Power supplies’, ‘Main Vessel’, and ‘Heating and current drive’ together with the cash contribution to the ITER Organization. These four activities represented approximatively 72% of the annual operational budget.
The budget was amended in the course of 2023 as additional delays incurred during the year due to the quality of the components, which required repairs, and instability of designs for placing the contracts.
Significant amendments of the 2023 budget and of the work programme have been adopted. This has led to the reduction of Euratom’s contribution to operational expenditure commitment and payment appropriations, respectively EUR 290 million and EUR 264 million. To the exception of EUR 10 million in commitments transferred to another research activity, these amounts have been given back to the general budget in September.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
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- The Commission considers that 100% of the ITER-related expenditure for the 2021-2027 period contributes to the climate effort of the EU budget. The project does not, however, contribute to the biodiversity mainstreaming or the clean air budgeting priorities.
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
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Gender disaggregated information: |
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Digital
Contribution to the digital transition (million EUR):
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Budget performance – outcomes
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Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- In 2023, the ITER project reported some noticeable progress. As a major achievement of the year, F4E delivered to ITER all the magnets that Europe had committed to deliver. These powerful magnets, which will confine the super-hot plasma (150 million °C), are the most complex magnets to date. This achievement results from 15 years of work and required the coordination of at least 40 companies by F4E. This programme is now in its closing phase.
- F4E also succeeded in completing the construction of the main building works in 2023.
- As at the end of December 2023, 24% of all ITER plants had been installed. The manufacturing of the main components progressed, but further delays have been reported in the manufacturing and pre-assembly of vacuum vessel sectors and the design and procurement of electron cyclotron heating components. Solutions have been elaborated to speed up the delivery of these components and limit their cost overruns. In particular, Euratom has actively promoted a better integration of the ITER Organization and F4E activities to develop synergies and common working methods as far as the design of the main comments and timelines are concerned.
- Work towards achieving first plasma continues to advance, but it has become clear that the milestone of reaching it by 2025 can no longer be achieved. Both the completion of ITER’s construction and Euratom’s in-kind contribution were below their 2023 targets. Various steps of the project have been rescheduled to establish a more realistic planning. The baseline revision exercise has been accordingly started by the ITER Organization, which is expected to present an initial revised baseline in June 2024. The new baseline will have to be approved by the ITER Council and will serve as a basis for the Commission to establish the programme budgetary needs for the next multiannual financial framework.
- Due to its international nature, whereby Russia is one of the project partners, the ITER project is also impacted by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In particular, some parts and tools that were destined to Russia for manufacturing the components have had difficulties in entering Russia, due to the sanctions imposed by the EU (while civil nuclear equipment is exempt from the sanctions, it takes time to obtain clearance from national authorities) and due to the unwillingness and refusal of the Member States to trade with Russia. However, many key components were already delivered to the project site or are in Europe, and the missing components are not on the project critical path.
- ITER is an international organisation and the ITER International Agreement does not foresee the possibility of excluding or suspending the participation of any member. Nevertheless, the EU continued to chair the ITER Council as of 1 January 2024, even if it was Russia’s turn.
- In December 2023, the JT-60SA reactor was inaugurated. It was built and will be operated jointly by the EU and Japan under the Broader Approach Agreement, and is the biggest and most advanced tokamak fusion reactor in the world. It has been active since December 2023 and its exploitation will be instrumental for ITER.
- Fusion can be a clean and virtually limitless energy source. Nowadays, the general potential of fusion is more widely recognised thanks to the strong advance of fusion science in recent years. ITER will be the world’s biggest and most intensive fusion research project when it is constructed. There are more than a dozen additional fusion research initiatives underway (e.g. a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Commonwealth Fusion Systems start-up, and other initiatives in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States). The fusion foresight study carried out by DG Energy (4) mapped all the initiatives and drew scenarios for future fusion development. In all scenarios the ITER experiment is central for further fusion research and initiatives.
- The EU’s funding of ITER is an investment in a more sustainable, climate-friendly society. The preamble of the ITER agreement emphasises the long-term potential of fusion energy as a virtually limitless, environmentally acceptable and economically competitive source of energy. The European Commission considers ITER expenditure as 100% relevant to the achievement of the 30% climate spending target of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework. The climate contribution from the 2023 commitments was EUR 543.0 million.
- F4E is also acting as an innovation facilitator to support the industry, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises. Success stories of companies that have increased their competitiveness thanks to the commercial use of F4E’s technology package are published on its marketplace of technologies (5). To achieve new success stories each year, F4E is actively doing the following.
- Promoting a portfolio of technologies. A total of 33 technology packages are currently being offered (6) for use in non-fusion markets. F4E’s network of brokers is supporting its industrial partners, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, to present business-oriented sales pitches of the technologies at events organised or attended by F4E (the F4E Technology Transfer Day, the Big Science Business Forum, a series of brokerage webinars, Hannover Messe, Automatica).
- Funding projects to bring the technologies to the market. In 2023, F4E launched the third edition of the Technology Transfer Award and the second edition of the ‘Demonstrator’ project. F4E is rewarding the commercial use of technologies and is funding the gap between the technology readiness level in the ITER project and the readiness level of the technology needed for its use in the market.
- Promoting a marketplace of technologies. This is an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises to showcase the new skills they have acquired thanks to their participation in the ITER project.
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
SDGs the programme contributes to | Example |
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SDG7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all | ITER is a key project for developing fusion energy, which has the potential to provide a virtually limitless source of clean energy. |
SDG8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all | A big number of direct and indirect jobs are created through ITER. The project supports the development of a skilled workforce. |
SDG9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation | ITER falls under the category of Research and Innovation, both of which underpin the implementation of SDG9. Furthermore ITER involves a significant investment in innovation and infrastructure development. |
SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts | ITER contributes to a clean energy transition while boosting jobs and growth in the area of energy and climate. |
SDG17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development | ITER is an example of a global partnership involving seven international partners (Euratom, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States) representing more than half of the world’s population. |