The Board of Directors of the International Fusion Test Reactor (ITER) unanimously appointed Pietro Baravaski as the successor of former ITER Secretary-General Bernard Vigo, who passed away in May, at a board meeting held in Paris, France, on the 14th-15th.
Italian-born Baravaski (56), the new secretary-general, is a scientist who has worked hard to create a nuclear fusion energy source throughout his life. After studying electrical engineering at the university, he joined the ITER co-central team from 1992 and served as the head of design integration of the ITER international team until 2006. Since 2015, he has served as acting director of ‘F4E’, an ITER European Union organization.
After former Secretary-General Bernard Vigo, who had led ITER since 2015, died of an illness in May, ITER Deputy Secretary-General Tada Aisuke served as interim secretary-general. The new Secretary-General Baravaski will assume the role of ITER Secretary-General in October.
Nuclear fusion is a technology that embodies the way the sun makes energy on earth. In contrast to nuclear power generation that utilizes nuclear fission, it generates energy by realizing nuclear fusion at ultra-high temperatures like the sun. Theoretically, it is also called ‘dream energy’ because it can produce 10,000 tons (tons) of energy from a raw material the size of a pineapple.
The ITER project, which began designing in 1988, includes 6 countries including Korea, the United States, China, Japan, Russia, India, and 28 European countries as members. Since September of this year, three young Korean researchers have also been dispatched to the ITER engineering and science and driving sectors.
In 2007, the European Union (EU) led the construction of the 200MW (megawatt) class nuclear fusion power plant ITER in Tadarache, southern France, with the goal of completing it by 2025 and operating it from 2040.
