Divertor targets and solenoid run up the score

It was a premiere for Frank Briscoe today. Together with ITER Director-General Kaname Ikeda he signed the Procurement Arrangement for the inner vertical target of the divertor system. For the new Director of the European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy, based in Barcelona, it was his first "PA" signing since his appointment as Head of the Agency in February.

"With this signature, worth EUR 31.3 million, we have completed the three Procurement Arrangements for the divertor's plasma-facing components," explained Mario Merola, Internal Components Division Head. "What remains is the actual cassette body, which is the steel structure, which supports the plasma-facing components and routes the water coolant. But compared to the plasma-facing components, whose design is a real technical and engineering challenge because they have to withstand the extreme heat loads inside the vacuum vessel of up to 20 MW per square metre, this is a relatively easy task."

But before it was time to uncork the champagne and to raise the glasses, a second Procurement Arrangement was signed for the central solenoid magnet, the backbone of ITER's magnet system. Ned Sauthoff, the Project Manager of the US Domestic Agency, signed the documents alongside Kaname Ikeda. The procurement, bringing the total number of signed Procurement Arrangements up to 34, is worth about EUR 88 million.

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