Fusion for Energy (F4E), the European Union (EU) organisation managing Europe’s contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter), on 31 October signed a €100m ($109m) deal to develop robotics equipment for the €15bn Iter facility being built at Cadarache in southern France. F4E said the contract is the single biggest robotics deal to date in the field of fusion energy.
The contract with Airbus Safran Launchers (France-Germany), Nuvia Limited (UK) and Cegelec CEM (France) will run for seven years. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UK), Instituto Superior Tecnico (Portugal), AVT Europe NV (Belgium) and Millennium (France) will also be part of the contract, which will deliver remotely operated systems for the transportation and confinement of components in the Iter vacuum vessel. The Iter project brings together seven parties: China, Europe, Japan, India, South Korea, Russia and the USA.