EoW November 2013

News Corporate

Fusion research contract win for Ridgway

India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States will implement the project during its estimated 10-year construction and 20-year operational phases. Construction is now well underway in Cadarache, France, and operations are expected to begin in the early 2020s. The seven ITER members share every aspect of the project, including science, procurement, finance and staffing, with the aim that ultimately each member will have the know-how to produce its own fusion energy plant. Ridgway also provides sophisticated taping heads to insulate the toroidal field (TF) magnet coils supplied by the EU. Ridgway’s sales and marketing director, Andy Clarke, said: “We will be working in close collaboration with our customer to meet the specification and performance standards for this demanding engineering application.”

Ridgway Machines has won a major new contract from General Atomics, a US-based technology innovation firm in fusion research and technology. The tape wrapping system will be used to insulate superconductor coils for the central solenoid magnet on the international nuclear fusion reactor ITER, which has been called the largest science experiment in history. ITER aims to demonstrate the technical and scientific feasibility of fusion power for commercial-scale energy. The ITER tokamak machine will be one of the most complicated machines ever engineered –

▲ ▲ The ITER central solenoid magnet system

almost 30 metres high and weighing 23,000 tons, it will house an estimated one million components. The central solenoid will be located in the heart of the ITER tokamak, and will provide the majority of the magnetic flux change needed to initiate the plasma, generate the plasma current and maintain this current during the burn time.

The ITER organisation was formed to advance the development of hydrogen fusion as an energy source. Fusion is a safe, carbon-free energy source fuelled by abundant resources (heavy hydrogen from sea water) and can produce high levels of power.

Ridgway Machines – UK Website : www.ridgwayeng.com

Partners China, the European Union (EU),

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November 2013