Entirely Italian the first component of the EU-Japan nuclear fusion reactor

ENEA and ASG Superconductors have presented, in Genoa, the first superconducting magnet for the experimental nuclear fusion reactor JT-60SA, currently under construction in Naka, Japan, and intended to reproduce the actual reaction of stars. Building the Tokamak  – the scientific name for the kind of facility that will burn the first plasma in 2019 – is part of the Broader Approach programme that Europe and Japan are carrying on to speed up nuclear fusion research. The Tokamak is a fundamental milestone in the nuclear fusion programme supporting ITER, one of the major and most complex international projects, currently being realized in Cadarache, France. Nuclear fusion research in Italy is headed by ENEA, which is one of the in the Broader Approach partners.

The event was attended by Federico Testa, Commissioner of ENEA, Davide Malacalza and Vincenzo Giori, respectively Chairman and CEO of ASG Superconductors of ASG, and Walter Tosto, Chairman of the company of the same name. 50 additional delegates from Europe and Japan took part in the Technical Coordination Meeting organized by ENEA to evaluate the current progress of the experimental reactor.

The coils made by ENEA and ASG Superconductors will be the components of the JT-60SA superconducting magnet, the fusion reactor core, so that plasma –that is the matter the sun and the stars are made of– is confined into the Tokamak, reaching a temperature of millions of degrees, which allows to replicate exactly the same energy-generating process occurring in the sun and the stars.

Italy has committed itself to contribute to implementing the bilateral agreement, by entrusting ENEA with the task of providing 9 out of the 18 coils of the superconducting magnet, containment vessels and power supply systems included. The value of this first order is over 17 million euro for ASG plus 10 million euro for the structural components made by Walter Tosto and about 12 million euro for the supply systems powering the magnets.

ENEA’s nuclear fusion expertise has been developed in its Frascati Research centre. Actually, it is a centre of excellence on fusion research, internationally acknowledged since the fifties thanks to its scientific research study on magnetic-confinement plasmas – conducted on the machines Frascati Tokamak (FT) and Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) – and to the ABC plant for the study of laser-plasma interaction, the alternative to magnetic confinement technology. What is more, ENEA’s technological development, in collaboration with industries, has generated know-how of international value in those sectors highly strategic for nuclear fusion energy.

For further information:

Che cos'è la fusione nucleare Technical Coordination Meeting del Progetto JT-60SA Tokamak JT-60SA International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) ENEA