The ITER project has reached a new milestone with the completion of the first vacuum vessel sector manufactured in Europe. This component, essential for the nuclear fusion reaction , is a stainless steel structure designed to contain the plasma generated in the reactor.
Measuring over 19 metres in diameter, over 11 metres high and weighing 5,200 tonnes, this enormous vessel has been manufactured to the strictest safety standards set by the French authorities.
Europe closer to mastering nuclear fusion
Thanks to the collaboration of Fusion for Energy (F4E) and the consortium formed by Ansaldo Nucleare , Westinghouse and Walter Tosto, Europe will produce five of the nine sectors of the vessel . This team has been working together for more than ten years, involving more than 15 companies from all over Europe and 150 professionals.
The technical challenge of welding the 150 kilometres of welds without generating deformations has been successfully overcome, highlighting the precision and quality control of the equipment.
The ITER project is moving forward
According to Andrés Dans Alvarez De Sotomayor, technical engineer at F4E, this achievement is the result of years of coordinated work across multiple factories and between teams distributed throughout Europe.
The most important thing is the human effort behind each part of the component, which makes it special.
affirmed.
Sector 5, as it is known, will be delivered in Fos-sur-Mer, France, and the remaining four sectors are expected to be ready in the next two years. This progress is key in the development of the ITER project, which seeks to generate clean and safe energy through nuclear fusion .
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Source and photos: Fusion for Energy
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