Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Image of the Week | Sector 5 is on its way

    The first vacuum vessel sector produced in Europe travelled last week between Monfalcone, Italy, and the French port of Fos-sur-Mer. The 440-tonne component had [...]

    Read more

  • Anniversary | ITER Document Management system turns 20

    Whatever its nature, every large project generates huge numbers of documents. And when project collaborators operate from different countries, as was the case f [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Latvia mints a fusion-themed coin

    Last week, ITER Plant Installation Program Manager Bertrand Roques brought back a small but highly symbolic contribution to the ITER budget from a colloqui [...]

    Read more

  • Outreach | Train traveller? Meet ITER

    Anyone arriving at or leaving from the Aix-en-Provence high-speed train station this month is liable to learn a little about the ITER project, as there is hardl [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Innovative approaches and how ITER can help

    More than 30 private fusion companies from around the world attended ITER's inaugural Private Sector Fusion Workshop in May 2024. Four of them participated in a [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

Europe signs contracts for blanket first wall prototypes

To mitigate risk on these technically challenging components and preserve competition up to series production, three different companies will manufacture a full-size prototype of a blanket first wall panel. © ITER Organization (Click to view larger version...)
To mitigate risk on these technically challenging components and preserve competition up to series production, three different companies will manufacture a full-size prototype of a blanket first wall panel. © ITER Organization
The European Domestic Agency has awarded contracts for the fabrication of three full-size prototypes of the blanket first wall, an important next step in the qualification of the first wall panels that follows in the steps of the successful manufacturing of a 1:6-scale semi-prototype earlier this year.

Contracts were signed with Atmostat (ALCEN group, France), AREVA (France), and a consortium made up of AMEC (UK), Iberdrola (Spain) and MIB (Spain). Each of these companies is to manufacture a full-size prototype of a blanket first wall panel, as well as carry out specific industrialization studies for series production and present a cost and schedule assessment.

The choice of three companies was made by the European Domestic Agency to mitigate risk on these technically challenging components and preserve competition up to series production.

Europe is responsible for procuring 215 normal heat flux first wall panels, while China and Russia are sharing the procurement of 225 enhanced heat flux panels. (A total of 440 first wall panels are needed for the ITER blanket.) These extremely high-tech components are made of 6- to 10-millimetre-thick beryllium tiles that are bonded with a copper alloy and 316L (N) stainless steel.

More on the manufacturing process for first wall panels can be found in the original article on the European Domestic Agency website.

Delivery of the full-scale prototypes is expected in early 2017.


return to the latest published articles