30 Oct (NucNet): Fusion for Energy (F4E), the organisation responsible for managing Europe’s contribution to International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter), has signed its largest contract to date for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of the mechanical and electrical equipment for the tokamak building complex at Cadarache.
F4E said the contract, signed with a consortium comprising Cofely Axima, Cofely Ineo and Cofely Endel of France’s GDF Suez Group plc and the M+W Group LLC of Germany, is worth approximately 530 million euros (EUR) (728 million US dollars).
The contract is expected to run for six years and covers the design, supply, installation and commissioning of the ventilation, air conditioning and electrical equipment for the tokamak building complex, where the ITER machine will be located. The complex consists of the tokamak, diagnostic and tritium buildings, plus surrounding buildings.
F4E announced last week that it had signed an engineering integrator contract with ASG Superconductors of Italy for ITER’s poloidal field coils. That contract was worth approximately EUR 27.5 million.
ITER is under construction at the Cadarache nuclear site in southern France and is intended to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power. It will be the world’s largest experimental fusion facility. Fusion is the process which powers the sun and the stars. When light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released.
ITER is a first-of-a-kind global collaboration. Europe will contribute 45 percent of its construction costs, while the other six members to the venture (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US), will contribute equally to the rest. The total cost of the project has been estimated at EUR 15 billion.
