UK firm wins key role in €100m ITER robotic maintenance system engineering contract

System to transport radioactive components for maintenance and inspection around fusion research site will be largest of its type ever constructed

The largest contract for a nuclear fusion-related robotic system has been awarded to a consortium comprising Airbus Safran Launchers, Nuvia, and Cegelec CEM. Worth around €100m over seven years, the contract covers the development, testing and installation of a system for the remote handling of containers containing radioactive equipment from the reactor vessel of the enormous experimental fusion reactor, ITER, currently under construction near Marseilles.

The system is called the Cask And Plug Remote Handling System (CPRHS). It is an essential part of the maintenance system for the reactor, and will be a challenging design because it will have to function in an extremely confined space. The casks mentioned in the system name are similar in size and shape to standard shipping containers; they are designed to contain components from inside the ITER tokamak, where exposure to the high-energy neutron flux produced by nuclear fusion will render everything too radioactive for human contact. Items needing attention will be placed robotically inside the casks, which will then have to be transported to a "hot cell" within the ITER complex where there will be inspected, tested, maintained and if necessary, scrapped.