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A key contract for a major component of the Iter experimental fusion reactor has been awarded to an Italian company, while US senators push to pull the plug on funding for the project.
The five year, €100 million contract with Simic is for the toroidal field coils, the massive superconducting magnets used to contain the hot plasma in the reactor. The plasma of superheated gas in the doughnut-shaped tokamak will reach temperatures of 200°C million, in order to fuse deuterium and tritium atoms and release energy.
Europe is making 10 of the 19 coils for the Iter reactor, which is planned to be operational by 2023, 10 years later than originally planned.
The toroidal field coils will be the biggest Nb3Sn magnets ever manufactured. Once powered with 68,000 amps, they will generate a magnetic field that will reach 11.8 Tesla- about one million times stronger the magnetic fields of the earth.
Simic supplies cryostats and vacuum equipment for scientific research facilities and industry. Marianna Ginola, commercial manager of Simic, said: “This contract is an impressive achievement that enhances the proven track record of our company and associates Italian manufacturing amongst the most skilled in the world. Iter has given us the opportunity to build international collaborations and given us the possibility to access new markets and grow both in size and expertise.”
The contract covers the cold testing of the toroidal field winding packs and the insertion of the winding packs into coil cases. Simic is working with German company Babcock for certain tooling and technologies used in the manufacture of the coils.
Each toroidal field coil will measure 15m high 9m wide and weigh approximately 300 tons. Europe has the responsibility for 10 coils, including one spare and Japan is producing the other 9.
The packs will be cold tested at -200°C using a combined cycle of nitrogen and helium and then inserted into the cases using laser dimensional controlled technology and complex tooling in order to move and fit hundreds of tons with millimetre-level precision. Finally the cases will be welded, a difficult weld because of the thickness of the weld and the fact that welding can only be carried out from one side.
Meanwhile, US politicians are arguing over the country’s funding for the multinational experiment, which has risen by almost €1.5bn since its participation was agreed in 2006. Extra money is being allocated to the project via the Department of Energy’s budget next year, but senators last month approved a bill that would order the US to withdraw from the project. The US is contributing 9% of the project, which has a total cost of around €15 billion.