Meet Researchers,
See Canadian Nuclear Fusion Device
Friday, July 22, 2005
10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Ottawa — Canadian researchers who worked on the experimental nuclear fusion device, the Tokamak de Varennes, will be at the Canada Science and Technology Museum to meet with journalists and show them the device itself, next Friday, July 22, at 10 a.m. The Tokamak, a controlled nuclear fusion research instrument, is on display to the public at the Museum as part of the larger MegaScience exhibition.

Nuclear fusion reactors produce energy through the fusion of atomic nuclei, using high temperatures and pressure. The Tokamak de Varennes contributed to fusion research through experiments on magnetic confinement and heating of an ionized gas, or plasma, to over 20 million degrees Celsius, a temperature comparable to that of the sun. The ultimate goal of this research was to produce low-cost energy with no long-term nuclear waste or greenhouse gases.

Canada’s Tokamak de Varennes was built between 1979 and 1987 by researchers at the Research Institute of Hydro-Quebec and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique-Énergie of Varennes, Quebec, in collaboration with Canadian industry and government departments. It was used in experiments between 1987 and 1998 and marked a first in Canadian nuclear fusion. The program ended in 1999 due to budget cuts.

Scientists all over the world have been working on nuclear fusion since the early 1950s, but it is highly complex and expensive research. This June, six countries – China, the EU, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US – reached an agreement to pool their financial and intellectual resources to try and take nuclear fusion to the next level, and attempt to develop a commercially viable nuclear fusion reactor. This International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), will be built in the south of France, and is expected to be completed by 2015.

The Zero Energy Experimental Pile (ZEEP) will join the Tokamak on display in the fall of 2005. It will mark the first time ever that components of a nuclear fission reactor, which produces energy by splitting atoms, will be exhibited in a museum setting.

Main exhibition halls and displays are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $6; $3 for children ages 4-14; $5 for students and seniors; $14 for a family (2 adults and 3 children); children under 4 are free. The Canada Science and Technology Museum is located at 1867 St Laurent Boulevard and offers free parking on-site.

General information: Call 613 991-3044 or our Toll free number: 1-866-442-4416.

Media contacts:
Caroline Desabrais, 613 998-5342, cdesabrais@technomuses.ca
Rita Signorini, 613-993-9190, rsignorini@technomuses.ca