Europe Awards Fusion Reactor Contracts

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Contracts worth €530 million ($715 million) have been awarded for key parts of the world's largest experimental nuclear fusion project in France.

Fusion for Energy (F4E), a European Union (E.U.) group overseeing Europe's contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), has awarded its largest contract to date to three GDF Suez SA (EPA:GSZ) (Paris, France) subsidiaries - Cofely Axima, Cofely Ineo and Cofely Endel - and Germany's M+W Group. They will provide the building services for the Tokamak complex, where the ITER Tokamak machine will be located, and the surrounding buildings. The contract is expected to run for six years.

In January this year, F4E awarded the civil engineering contract worth €300 million ($400 million) to a Vinci Construction-led consortium of seven companies. For additional information, see January 24, 2013, article - First Fusion Reactor Moves Closer.

"This is an important achievement for Europe not only because of the volume of the contract but also because European companies will be given an unprecedented opportunity to share and acquire new know-how that will generate future business opportunities," said Professor Henrik Bindslev, F4E's Director.

Guy Lacroix, Managing Director of GDF SUEZ Energy Services in charge of Cofely Axima, Cofely Ineo and Cofely Endel, added: "Being part of the largest international collaboration in the field of fusion energy makes us extremely proud. All the members of the consortium bring together a diversity of skills and expertise which allow us to demonstrate that we can be at the forefront of large scale industrial projects like ITER."

The €13 billion ($17.3 billion) project to build the Tokamak complex at Cadarache in southern France will be the first large scale nuclear fusion project. Unlike current nuclear power where energy is created by splitting atoms, a fusion reaction, according to ITER, happens by fusing atoms together. If successful, ITER claims that they can produce three to four times more power than conventional nuclear. The Tokamak will have estimated generating capacity of 500-megawatts (MW).

The project will stretch across 42 hectares and Europe is responsible for the delivery of the 39 buildings that the ITER platform will need. By the end of next year an estimated 2,000 people will be working on site.

The main reactor building will be 80 metres high, 120 metres long and 80 metres wide. Bigger than a football field it will be supported on 493 plinths equipped with anti-seismic bearings. These will support the overall weight of the Tokamak machine, which is estimated at 23,000 tons - almost three times the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

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