SIRIUS /Federal Territory/, March 25. /TASS/. Russian and South Korean specialists will discuss trials for Russia's innovative new material for the first wall of the future ITER fusion reactor being built by the global community in France in the near future, head of the ITER engineering research center (part of Rosatom) Anatoly Krasilnikov told TASS.

"We are preparing material samples and we are in the process of signing a contract with the ITER international organization to conduct research on these materials. We plan to start discussing the specifics of the research with specialists from South Korea in the near future. By the way, the agreement that the ITER global organization is signing with us, stipulates in particular that after the materials are tested in Russia the next stage of tests will be carried out in South Korea," he said.

The material for the first wall of the ITER fusion reactor should meet seven requirements, including resistance to heat, fortitude, heat-transmission capacity and conductivity among others. The unique material was presented earlier to participants of the ITER project and "made a huge impression on them," Krasilnikov noted.

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is the world’s first international fusion experimental reactor, and is being constructed in coordination with the international community in Provence near Marseille (France). The reactor uses the tokamak technology invented by Soviet academicians Igor Tamm and Andrey Sakharov in the 1950s. The project's goal is to show that it is possible to use fusion energy for peaceful purposes.

The reactor is being built jointly by the European Union, India, China, the Republic of Korea, Russia, the US and Japan. The EU is funding 45% of the cost of building the facility, with the rest including Russia contributing 9% each. Russian enterprises are responsible for the production of 25 unique systems for the future facility.