ENEA, a world leader in the design and production of superconducting cables for Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion, led by Eng. Anthony Court, together with Criotec Srl, experts in the manufacturing of components operating at very low temperatures, and TRATOS Cavi Spa, a leading global manufacturer of electric cables and optical fibre, has participated in the tender for the supply of key components of the ITER experiment.
The product will be built at Cadarache in France and the purpose is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of energy production by controlled thermonuclear fusion.
The industrial partners have been specifically identified and qualified by ENEA for joint participation in the tender. The tender was instigated by Fusion for Energy (F4E) for the production of Cable-In-Conduit (CIC) superconducting wire to be used in the worldwide construction of magnets for the ITER reactor and also the Japanese JT60SA.
The superconductivity laboratory (ENEA) promptly selected from the international firms chosen to tender whose suitability were identified based on the synergy between the scientific and technical knowledge of ENEA and the production capacity of the selected industrial partners. The excellent prototypes manufactured by the partners, ensured the group successfully competed at an international level against high level competitors.
The contract, which will last four years for a value of around 49 million euros, will be managed by forming a consortium called ICAS (Italian Consortium on Applied Superconductivity), which will be coordinated by ENEA.
The basic superconducting material, valued at around 90 million euros and supplied by Fusion for Energy, will undergo initial processing by TRATOS at their Pieve Santo Stefano (AR) manufacturing plant. The final assembly will be carried out by Criotec in Chivasso (Turin). ENEA will oversee and coordinate all activities to ensure the ‘the art’ of producing these components is realised.
