Fusion for Energy signs €140m contracts
The EU organisation responsible for Europe’s contribution to ITER, Fusion for Energy (F4E), has agreed three separate contracts with two French companies totalling €140m.
ITER, meaning ‘the way’ – i.e. towards a new energy mix – activates new commercial opportunities and new markets for those involved in the international project designed to create an experimental fusion reactor. The contracts cover high-tech engineering, frontier R&D and civil construction works, which require a collaboration between suppliers and co-ordination across multiple levels.
Johannes Schwemmer, director of F4E, said: “ITER addresses a wide range of technologies and requires the involvement of companies with a diverse set of skills. Through their participation in this one-of-a-kind project their expertise and confidence will grow further because they will be exposed to some of tomorrow’s industrial challenges.”
Constructions Industrielles de la Méditerranée (CNIM) has been awarded two contracts, valuing €80m, the first of which is expected to run for four years and the second, seven. A cutting-edge inspection system will be produced, while a combination of high-tech vision and robotics systems will be deployed to carry out inspections inside the ITER machine, which will use powerful superconducting coils to confine the superhot gas at temperatures up to 150,000,000˚C.
CNIM’s Management Board member Philippe Demigné said: “These contracts highlight the expertise of CNIM in the field of large scientific instruments and the quality of our industrial facilities, which are perfectly suited to large scale projects.”
Three subsidiaries of the Spie batignolles Group (Spie batignolles TPCI/Spie batignolles sud-est and Valérian), together with industrial maintenance company ADF, have signed a contract to the value of the remaining €60m to deliver electricity and hydraulic infrastructure services as well as the necessary roadworks infrastructures.
The European Union, thorugh its Horizon 2020 funding programme, is a major contributor to the 35-year ITER project, which also involves the efforts of China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States.
