US ITER awards agreement for Tokamak Cooling Water System

The U.S. ITER Project Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has awarded a basic ordering agreement for design and fabrication of the Tokamak Cooling Water System (TCWS) - a major U.S. contribution to the ITER Project - to AREVA Federal Services LLC of Charlotte, N.C.

The TCWS is a complex piping network that is subdivided into four primary heat transfer subsystems with supporting functions performed by three additional subsystems. It removes heat that is generated by the plasma and absorbed by ITER's internal components and vacuum vessel while controlling the temperature of the device's Neutral Beam Injector. The system also will be used for baking and drying to support operations.

Specific work tasks will be authorized by individual task orders. Most of the TCWS subsystems are planned for delivery within the five-year duration of the agreement, although there is an option to extend if additional time is required.

The ITER Project is an international collaboration of scientists and engineers with the mission of designing and constructing a burning plasma experiment to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power. The goal is to produce fusion power that would be at least ten times greater than the external power delivered to heat the plasma.

The United States is working with its international partners, which include the People's Republic of China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation. The device is being assembled at Cadarache in southeastern France from components designed and fabricated in the member countries.