'Heart' of international fusion power project starts installation
CGTN
The equipment assembly plant of the ITER. /VCG Photo

The equipment assembly plant of the ITER. /VCG Photo

A core machine of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the world's first fusion device, has entered the installation phase, according to ITER Organization.

Representatives of the China Nuclear Power Engineering (CNPE)-led consortium signed the Tokamak Assembly Contract 1 (TAC1) contract with Bernard Bigot, ITER Director-General, on September 30 in Beijing.

The TAC1 covers the cryostat and cryostat thermal shield, magnet feeders, the central solenoid, poloidal field and correction coil magnets, and cooling structures and instrumentation, according to ITER Organization.

The covered contents constitute the installation of most crucial parts of the ITER Tokamak, whose importance is equivalent to that of the reactor in the nuclear power plant, or the heart in the human body.

Representatives of the CNPE consortium and ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot (C) at the ITER-TAC1 contract signing ceremony in Beijing, September 30. /Photo via iter.org

Representatives of the CNPE consortium and ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot (C) at the ITER-TAC1 contract signing ceremony in Beijing, September 30. /Photo via iter.org

The ITER is so far the world's second largest science and engineering project in construction scale, behind the International Space Station.

It's also the largest nuclear engineering contract ever bid on by Chinese companies in the European market, and the first time for Chinese nuclear power enterprises to successfully participate in international scientific projects in the form of general contracting, said Yu Jianfeng, chairman of the China National Nuclear Corporation, parent company of the CNPE.

"It means that China's general contracting capacity for nuclear power construction forged over 30 years and its international influence of fusion technologies formed over 50 years have been recognized by the international high-end nuclear energy market," noted Yu.

The CNPE consortium consists of the CNPE, the China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Company Ltd., the Southwestern Institute of Physics, the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences' ASIPP, and the French nuclear reactor firm Framatome.

Read more: 

China delivers first batch of crucial parts to int'l fusion power project

China's 'artificial sun' to challenge 200 million degrees Celsius

Ahead of TAC1, the other contract for Tokamak machine assembly, or TAC2, was signed to DYNAMIC SNC consortium in July.

"We are pleased we have found highly qualified and motivated partners for the execution of the work," said Bigot. "We look forward to collaborating with world-renowned industry specialists for the on-time and to-specification assembly of one of the world's most challenging, promising and important scientific instruments."

Nuclear fusion energy is regarded as an ideal energy source to solve the energy dilemma in the future.

Read more: 'Artificial sun' paves way for unlimited clean energy