ITER fusion project: From the Italian industry the biggest and the most complex magnet ever
7/7/2016
An all Italian-made magnet, bigger and more technologically advanced that has ever been developed will be employed in the fabrication of ITER, the world largest nuclear fusion facility under construction in France. It’s a gigantic D shaped coil, made of superconducting cables weighing over 300 tonnes, that the Italian ASG superconductors is manufacturing at their Factories in La Spezia.
ENEA, the Agency for New technologies, Energy and the Environment, collaborated in the development of the superconductors cables as coordinator of the Consortium ICAS (Italian Consortium for Applied Superconductivity) that also includes Criotec Impianti, expert in the development of components working at extremely low temperatures and Tratos Cavi Spa, leader in the international production of electrical, electronic and optical fibers cables. The consortium was created at the end of 2010 after being awarded the contract for the provision of superconductor cables for the magnets necessary to the plasma confinement in ITER.
The gigantic coil is the first of nine to be manufactured in Italy and is financed by Fusion for Energy (F4E), the EU Organization charged with the task of supporting the European part of the ITER Program. In this regard, 800million worth of contracts have been signed with the Italian Industry for research and development activities and the manufacturing of various components, since 2008. “The great success of the Italian Industry in the nuclear fusion field- Aldo Pizzuto, Head of the ENEA Department for Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Safety technologies, pointed out- shows how competitive our manufacturing industry is at global level, also in high-tech sectors. A result obtained thanks to the foresight of the investors and those who believed in the possibility of meeting huge challenges and were able to work in an integrated way with State research, particularly in the fusion field, in which Italy has a leading position”.
The super coil will create a circular magnetic shield able to entrap the super-hot plasma ( 150 million centigrades) and keep it away from the walls of the vessel of the fusion machine.
For Achille Bonito-Oliva, F4E’s Manager for Magnets and his team, this has been an accomplishment of significant importance. “Thanks to our determination to meet the tight planning for magnets and the excellent collaboration between F4E and its suppliers, we’re heading towards Europe’s first TF coil. Seeing a magnet of such complexity taking shape suggests that we can deliver one of the most technically challenging systems of ITER. It’s also proof of the good collaboration among the various actors involved in this one-of-a-kind project”.
Unabridged F4E Report
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