Spain and Croatia have signed a memorandum of understanding that establishes the terms for collaboration between the two countries in a €700m ($734m) project to build a powerful neutron irradiation facility in Spain for the study and qualification of materials planned as part of the European roadmap to fusion-generated electricity.

The main goal of the planned facility, known as the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility – Demo Oriented NEutron Source, or Ifmif Domes, is to study properties of materials under severe irradiation in a neutron field similar to the one in a fusion reactor first wall.

It is seen as a key facility to prepare for the construction of a demonstration fusion power plant envisaged to follow the €20bn International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) nuclear fusion plant under construction at Cadarache in southern France.