First Fusion Reactor Moves Closer

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The world's largest experimental nuclear fusion project took a step closer to reality this week with the civil engineering contract being awarded for the buildings on the planned site in France.

The contract, worth €300 million ($400 million), forms part of the €13 billion ($17.3 billion) project to build the Tokamak complex at Cadarache in southern France. It was awarded by Fusion for Energy (F4E) a European Union (E.U.) group overseeing Europe's contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). 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 contract was won by a Vinci Construction-led consortium of seven companies with design studies due to kick-off in April and the main civil engineering work in the autumn. The project is expected to run for five and a half years.

Europe is responsible for the provision of the 39 buildings that the ITER platform will need, spread across a 42 hectare site. The number of people involved in the construction will jump from 200 today to 3,000 by next year. 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.

Along with the main building, the Tokamak complex will feature diagnostics and tritium buildings, the ITER assembly hall, the radio frequency heating building, areas for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, a cleaning facility and site services buildings, the cryoplant compressor and coldbox building, the control buildings, the fast discharge and switching network resistor building and three bridges.

Overall, Europe is funding the lion's share (45%) of the ITER experiment, with the rest of the funding coming from China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and the USA.

"At this time when the urgency to transform our energy system has been overshadowed by the financial crisis it is important that we keep steadfast in funding projects like ITER," said E.U. Commissioner for Energy, Gunther Oettinger, at the Cadarache facility. "This project is at the forefront of energy technology research in the world, giving a long term view towards the decarbonisation of our energy supply. ITER, one of the world's biggest scientific collaborations, has a key role to play in establishing fusion as a sustainable energy source. Moreover, it benefits the economy of the countries, especially through the high tech SMEs sector. With ITER being located on EU territory we play a key role in global energy technology research now and in the future."

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