Final Contracts Signed for Assembly of World's First Fusion Reactor

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Final contracts have been signed with the contractors that will help build the world's first planned fusion reactor in Cadarache, southeastern France.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Organisation has announced that a year after finalising two major machine assembly contracts it has chosen the contractors that will carry out assembly and installation activities inside of the Tokamak Complex. The 20 billion-euro ($24 billion) project, supported by many countries, will replicate reactions that power the sun and will demonstrate that fusion power can be generated on a commercial scale. If successful, it will be the culmination of more than 60 years of research. Unlike nuclear power, fusion will leave no costly hazardous waste. The contracts represent an important step forward for the project. The assembly phase has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted the manufacture and delivery of millions of components necessary for the project.

The contracts have been awarded to two international groups, one incorporated as a consortium and the other as a commercial partnership. The TCC1 assembly contract--for the installation of heating and current drive, diagnostics, fueling, secondary cooling, and vacuum components--was awarded to the Fincantieri Consortium (Fincantieri S.p.A., Fincantieri SI S.p.A., Delta-ti Impianti S.p.A., Comes S.p.A.). The TCC2 assembly contract--for the installation of primary machine cooling water, test blanket module equipment, some vacuum pipework, vacuum vessel pressure suppression--was signed with comercial group META SNC (Ponticelli Freres SAS, Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios SA, and Empresarios Agrupados Internacional SA.).

The ITER Organisation said "co-activity in the Tokamak Complex will be a challenge to manage, as the assembly contractors work inside of congested areas alongside the European Domestic Agency contractors who are finishing the installation of building services such as HVAC, fire protection and electrical services. Also challenging are the installation tolerances, the large number of components and the tight schedule."

Christophe Dorschner, head of the Procurement & Contracts Division at ITER commented: "The two partners were chosen based on excellent technical capability at a competitive price, and we now need to collectively deliver on these promises through a deep collaboration between the teams at all levels. Such effective collaboration doesn't happen overnight; it requires a common sense of purpose that's aligned with the long-term business interests of all the companies involved."

The ITER project employs roughly 10,000 people and is overseen by eight members: China, the 27 nations of the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Korea, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. The EU is funding almost half of the cost of its construction and the group believes that first fusion power will take place in 2025.

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