On July 11, Perry visited the ITER site in Cadarach, France, where the world's first fusion engineering test reactor is being constructed as an international joint venture among seven Parties: the US, EU, China, India, Japan, Korea and Russia. Perry spent considerable time meeting with ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot and several ITER managers, conducted an extensive walking tour of the worksite, and spent time meeting and answering questions with the US-assigned members of the ITER staff.
On July 18, Perry visited General Atomics in San Diego, site of the major US fusion experiment DIII-D. General Atomics (GA) hosts collaborators from more than 100 institutions worldwide, including seven US national laboratories. Perry not only toured the DIII-D facility but also the target fabrication facilities for the US inertial confinement fusion program and the facility where GA is fabricating the 5-story, 1000 ton Central Solenoid magnet for ITER.
On August 9, Perry visited the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), the Energy Department's largest fusion research laboratory. He was hosted by Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber and recently-appointed PPPL director Steve Cowley. Perry said fusion was "important not just to PPPL, not just to DOE, but to the world." "If we're able to deliver fusion energy to the world, we're able to change the world forever," Perry said.
For more information on these visits, see: