SEA is proud to announce a new milestone in the historic ITER experiment.
Our Partner OCEM finished placing the latest Ion Source and Extraction Power Supplies (ISEPS) equipment inside the MITICA high-voltage deck at the Neutral Beam Test Facility, housed at the Consorzio RFX facility in Padua.
The installation required incredible precision as the heavy equipment was lifted and positioned within the two-level HVD, at more than 7 meters above the ground.
MITICA is a test bed for the neutral beam injectors being created for ITER, a research facility currently under construction that will be the world’s largest experiment dedicated to developing fusion energy as a clean and abundant power source.
OCEM is supplying ISEPS (Ion Source and Extraction Power Supply) systems both for MITICA and for the two neutral beam injectors that will be built on-site in Cadarache, France.
Europe and Japan are the two parties responsible for the provision of MITICA’s power supplies. All of Europe’s equipment has been manufactured and the cost of the equipment, financed by F4E, comes to a total of approximately 22 million EUR. NIDEC, OCEM PE and Siemens are the three companies mainly involved.
SEA contribution to ITER is of strategic importance because it allows us to work in an international environment promoting cutting-edge technology, in detail the following cast resin transformers:
- 1947 kVA - 22 kV / 42 x 633 V Cast resin transformer with surge arrester for primary side
- 2000 kVA - 6.6 kV / 28 x 441 V Cast resin transformer with surge arrester for primary side
- 200 kVA - 6.6 kV / 400 V Cast resin transformer
- 130 kVA - 6.6 kV / 400 V Cast resin transformer
Fusion occurs when two lighter atomic nuclei are subjected to high heat and pressure, and fuse to form a heavier nucleus. This fusion reaction produces a large amount of energy that can then be converted into electricity.
Fusion, however, can only take place when the gases have entered an electrically charged state of matter called plasma. To achieve fusion, the plasma must be heated to about 150 million degrees Celsius. These extreme temperatures are achieved by a combination of heating methods, one of which is called a “neutral beam injector.”
ITER will have two neutral beam injectors that inject high-energy particles of the same kind present in the reactor, using a series of steps to create, accelerate and finally neutralize the ions so they enter the plasma with high energy and produce heating.
The ISEPS systems power the first two stages of the neutral beam injector: the ion source and the extraction grid.
The ISEPS for MITICA will now be wired and connected to the ISEPS equipment, with commissioning and on-site testing to follow.
Other information is available by following links:
https://f4e.europa.eu/mediacorner/newsview.aspx?content=1288
https://ocem.eu/it/2018/12/ocem-achieves-new-milestone-in-historic-iter-project-2/