The DONES Steering Committee is pleased to announce that Japan has joined Spain and Croatia in the DONES Programme

The DONES Steering Committee, the governing body overseeing the development of the Programme, is pleased to announce the successful completion of its 5th meeting, held on 20 May 2025 at the Centro Federico García Lorca in Granada. This significant event brought together representatives from 17 countries, EURATOM, and international fusion energy organizations (EUROfusion and F4E) to discuss the progress and future plans of the DONES Programme.

During this meeting, Japan joined Spain and Croatia as a Party to the Steering Committee, reaffirming its commitment to the development of the International Neutron Source facility in Escúzar (Granada).

Key sections of the agenda included a report on the progress of the Programme, presented by its manager, who also briefed attendees on the 2024 Annual Report. The report provided a summary of the programme’s accomplishments and milestones in 2024, which was favourably received by the participants.

Mr. Joaquin Sánchez provided an update on the recently established Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), outlining its composition and summarizing the outcomes of its first meeting, held on April 29th.

The discussions offered a comprehensive update on the DONES Programme, covering progress, team organization, governance documents, intellectual property rights for the operational phase, credit allocation, potential additional international contributions, and the current status of procurement. These updates contribute to ensuring transparency and efficiency in the management of this international initiative.

During the meeting, the Spanish delegation presented a proposal for a Multilateral IFMIF-DONES Agreement (MIDA). The proposed agreement is intended to enhance collaboration among the various stakeholders involved in the project, ensuring alignment and a shared commitment to common objectives. MIDA aims to establish a clear framework for decision-making, resource allocation, and overall project management.

The next meeting of the DONES Steering Committee will be held in the city of Granada on 21^st October 2025.

At its fifth meeting, the DONES Steering Committee was attended by representatives from:
 
 
DONES Programme Background

Fusion energy has been one of humanity’s most significant scientific challenges since the 1950s. It is a safe, sustainable and massive energy source based on an inexhaustible fuel distributed throughout the planet, which could meet the energy needs in the second half of this century. This objective will materialise in the future European demonstration power plant, DEMO (DEMOnstration power plant). This plant will confirm the technological and economic feasibility of fusion energy, with continuous operation and injection of energy into the electricity grid. To do this, DEMO needs to build on all the development acquired in ITER and the Fusion Programme, but it also requires the most critical materials of its internal structure to be tested.

One of the key challenges in realising fusion energy is the development of neutron-tolerant materials that can withstand a neutron flux of up to 14 MeV while maintaining good physical and structural properties for extended periods. Currently, engineering materials data, properties and rules are based on fission neutron irradiation campaigns and do not fully cover neutron energies, temperature and other operating conditions.

The mission of the DONES programme will be to develop a database of the effects on materials of neutron irradiation similar to those produced in fusion reactions, which is essential for the design and construction of future fusion reactors. Therefore, to test materials and grow this knowledge, it is necessary to develop a neutron source with a spectrum similar to that of fusion; this neutron source will be able to reproduce the irradiation conditions of future fusion reactors, is IFMIF-DONES.

The IFMIF-DONES scientific infrastructure is the central element of the DONES Programme, which aims to establish a comprehensive database on fusion materials.

In IFMIF-DONES, a particle accelerator will produce a deuteron beam (D+) of 125 mA current and 40 MeV energy, impacting a 25 mm thick liquid lithium curtain flowing at 15 m/s. The reactions in the lithium target, upon the impact of the deuteron beam, will generate a high-energy neutron flux of sufficient intensity to simulate, in an accelerated manner, the damage that neutrons would produce in a fusion reactor. This neutron flux will be used to irradiate material samples located immediately behind the lithium curtain in the test modules of the irradiation area.

About IFMIF-DONES

The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility: Demo Oriented NEutron Source (IFMIF-DONES) is a unique scientific infrastructure in the world where materials for future fusion power plants will be tested, validated and qualified as DEMO (a prototype demonstration fusion reactor).

About this international project, in December 2017, Fusion for Energy (F4E) positively assessed the joint Spanish and Croatian proposal to locate IFMIF-DONES in Granada.

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) included IFMIF-DONES in its 2018 Roadmap as a project within the energy area, and it currently appears in the 2021 Roadmap. IFMIF-DONES thus becomes one of ESFRI’s critical infrastructures, positioning itself as a relevant strategic infrastructure for European scientists in energy research and innovation.

IFMIF-DONES will therefore be a unique international facility. In addition to its relevance for the development of fusion as an energy source, it will also be very relevant in other areas of research and knowledge that will benefit from its technology, such as medicine, particle physics, fundamental physics studies, and industry… All this is on a planet that is increasingly committed to sustainable development and using clean, safe and efficient energy.

The Spanish Government, as representative of the Host Country, and the Andalusian Regional Government have set up an Implementing Agency, under the form of a public consortium (IFMIF-DONES España). This consortium will be the owner and operator of the facility; and the legal responsible to the national regulatory authorities. As operator, the host must put in place the structure to comply with these obligations. Additionally, the host will be in charge of managing the Spanish contributions and hosting the international team that should participate in the development of IFMIF-DONES.
 

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