Robotic handling system to maintain key components of ITER fusion reactor

The robotic handling system, which will be capable of remotely repairing, maintaining and replacing the huge Neutral Beam injectors at ITER, is being developed by Amec Foster Wheeler in a €70m contract for the European Union organisation Fusion For Energy (F4E). It is the largest nuclear robotics contract ever let to a UK company.

ITER, located at Cadarache in the south of France, is the world’s largest fusion energy project, designed to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology as a future power source.

The Neutral Beam injectors, each the size of a single-decker bus, are used to heat up the plasma inside the reactor until it is hot enough for fusion to take place, according to Jon Montgomerie, chief engineer for the European Remote Handling Alliance, the Amec Foster Wheeler-led group of companies and universities that will build the robotic system.

During outages, these injectors, known as Beam Lines, need to be remotely maintained to ensure the efficient and safe running of the system. “Inside the Beam Lines the radiation doses will be quite high, so there is no way they could be maintained by hand,” said Montgomerie.