Japanese endeavors to establish technological bases for DEMO

The establishment of technology bases required for the development of a fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO) has been discussed by a joint effort throughout the Japanese fusion community. The basic concept of DEMO premised for investigation has been identified and the structure of technological issues to ensure the feasibility of this DEMO concept has been examined. The Joint-Core Team, which was launched along with the request by the ministerial council, has compiled analyses in two reports to clarify technology which should be secured, maintained, and developed in Japan, to share the common targets among industry, government, and academia, and to activate actions under a framework for implementation throughout Japan. The reports have pointed out that DEMO should be aimed at steady power generation beyond several hundred thousand kilowatts, availability which must be extended to commercialization, and overall tritium breeding to fulfill self-sufficiency of fuels. The necessary technological activities, such as superconducting coils, blanket, divertor, and others, have been sorted out and arranged in the chart with the time line toward the decision on DEMO. Based upon these Joint-Core Team reports, related actions are emerging to deliberate the Japanese fusion roadmap.