Jacobs continues leadership in delivering technological innovation for fusion energy
04/05/2020
Jacobs is continuing its leadership in clean energy with the award of several contracts, with an estimated combined value of more than $25 million (approximately £20 million), by Fusion for Energy (F4E), the ITER Organization and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).Selected to support leading-edge research in fusion, a potential source of safe, non-carbon-emitting and virtually limitless energy, Jacobs is delivering a range of technological and engineering innovation and support to ITER, the world’s largest fusion energy project based in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, France.
The ITER Organization has appointed Jacobs to its integrated engineering framework as part of a consortium with Orano Projects and the Madrid-based Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). The task is to minimise operator exposure to radiation during planned maintenance activities by combining strong collaboration skills with knowledge of ITER maintenance activities, remote handling, radiation and contamination assessment and hazard risk reduction.
As part of an existing contract with the ITER Organization, Jacobs is developing and supplying technology to monitor for corrosion in the hermetically sealed vacuum vessel that houses the fusion reactions. This contract also includes the production of safety documentation for submission to French regulators.
In addition, Jacobs has been awarded both lots of a framework contract to provide the ITER Organization with engineering support in relation to the Tokamak Complex Detritiation System, which is key to decontamination and fuel recycling.
Supporting Fusion for Energy, which is responsible for the European Union contribution to ITER, Jacobs is demonstrating safe operating and maintenance methods for helium-cooled pebble bed test blanket technology and is undertaking the construction design of the hydrogen monitoring system in the tokamak and tritium buildings, a major safety feature of the ITER machine.
“These new contracts add to our considerable long-term contribution to the ITER project and keep us at the forefront of nuclear fusion, which could provide future generations with a clean, safe and virtually unlimited source of energy,” said Clive White, Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions International Senior Vice President. “As innovators with a combination of fusion-specific and cross-sector engineering experience, we are focused on delivering long-term efficiency and schedule certainty for this important project.”
Jacobs has been involved in the ITER project for more than 20 years, working on key innovative technology including: plasma-facing first wall panels; test blanket modules; remote handling systems; integrative control, instrumentation and diagnostic systems; radiological and environmental monitoring; and contamination control and decontamination.
Jacobs is growing its support to the UKAEA’s research into design, engineering and manufacturing of components for fusion power stations, with the award of an $18.4 million (approximately £14.8 million) contract to design and build a test facility to replicate typical fusion conditions of extreme heat flux, high-pressure cooling and immensely strong electromagnetic fields. The purpose of the facility is to test components for any fusion reactor, including those of an experimental nature, such as ITER, and to support designs for commercial electricity generation. Jacobs will support UKAEA scientists, with partners from around the globe, to develop fusion as a new source of cleaner energy for tomorrow’s power stations.
UKAEA also awarded Jacobs a range of work to support the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), a UK government-funded programme to design and build a prototype fusion reactor, demonstrating its commercial viability. The contracts address several key areas where Jacobs can develop innovations to help drive the design and implementation, including modelling and simulation, alloy development and materials science, breeder blanket and divertor design, digital engineering, balance of plant and siting.
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