News: TWI part of UK nuclear consortium

The Welding Institute has been named as part of a UK consortium formed to bid for construction of the main reactor vacuum vessel of the €5 billion ITER (International Tokamak Experimental Reactor) nuclear fusion reactor, being built in Cadarache, France. The consortium comprises Davy Markham, a Sheffield specialist in the fabrication and machining of large structures, and precision fabricator Metalcraft. Engineering consultancy AMEC and The Welding Institute are providing specialist support that will be needed during the construction of the vacuum vessel segments. One of the world’s largest international co-operative research & development projects, ITER will demonstrate the integrated physics and engineering needed for a fusion power station and is expected to produce 500 MW of power.Europe and Korea are building the ITER vacuum vessel; consisting of nine D-shaped, vacuum vessel sectors, each weighing about 450 tons, its external diameter will measure 19.4 m, with an internal diameter of 6.5 m. Once assembled, the entire structure will be 11.3 m high. Kevin Parkin, Managing Director of Sheffield-based Davy Markham, explains the background to the consortium: "ITER represents an exciting business opportunity for ourselves and the rest of UK engineering. The vacuum vessel is a significant engineering challenge that no single company is capable of supplying. "So we've put a consortium together with fabrication specialist Metalcraft, AMEC providing design and programme management services, and The Welding Institute offering technical support, to enable us to present a solid technical and commercial case." Europe is providing seven vacuum vessel sectors and the remaining two will be supplied by Korea. Contracts for the ITER vacuum vessel are likely to be placed during 2009 / 2010. The TWI Technology Centre (Yorkshire) is on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham and is an extension of the resources at company headquarters in Cambridge.

Davy Markham website
TWI Yorkshire website
Rotherham

Image: iter.org