At least 50 people take part in the ceremony, including: Stefania Gannini, Italian Minister of Education, Universities, and Research; Dr Ito, Vice-Minister of MEXT (the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology); Dangis Verseckas, staff of the Directorate General for Energy; Dr Kurihara, the Director-General of QST; Professor Lorenzoni, Deputy Mayor of Padua; Gyung-Su Lee, ITER Deputy Director-General and Chief Executive Officer; representatives of Consorzio RFX including Director Sonato and President Gnesotto, and representatives of industry. ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot, who could not attend, sent a message by video. Other ITER colleagues, including Head of the Heating & Current Drive Division Deirdre Boilson, attended by live conference link.
The ITER neutral beam test facility (NBTF), also called PRIMA, is a joint international effort to develop the neutral beam injector prototypes for ITER. Hosted by the Italian fusion laboratory Consorzio RFX, the facility houses
two test beds—SPIDER, for the development and characterization of the ITER negative ion source; and MITICA, a full-size prototype of the 1 MV heating neutral beam injectors.
Outside of PRIMA, no other facility in the world can achieve the challenging requirements for the ITER neutral beam system simultaneously—power up to 16.5 MW at 1MeV of energy, and with a pulse length up to 3600 seconds.
A ceremony held on Monday 20 November celebrated the successful conclusion of Japan's component deliveries to the facility. Over
two years, Japan has delivered high-voltage components for the 1 MV power supply system of MITICA, including the megavolt bushing, the megavolt transmission line and the high voltage part of the megavolt power supply.
"Today, we recognize and celebrate the final delivery of some of the complex components that make up the ITER neutral beam test facility," said ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot by video address to the 50 participants at the event. "This is a major step toward the successful implementation and development of the neutral beam system—one of ITER's key heating and current drive systems."
Attending the ceremony were representatives of the Italian and Japanese governments, the European Commission, the Japanese National Institute of Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), and industry. All lauded the benefit and synergies created when complex technological challenges are taken on by international effort.
