In the ITER’s focus

On March 28, 2023 the “NPO “GKMP” LLC hosted the first session of the ITER Scientific and technical coordination board (International Thermonuclear Experimenta lReactor).

In course of the session one discussed the how the obligations of the Russian Federation set forth by the ITER are fulfilled considering the new sanction-affected reality, as well as relevant production issues of large-scale super conductors in Russia.

The board members visited the main workshops and production sites of the “NPO “GKMP” LLC that ensure pilot production of vacuum chamber components for testing of upper and equatorial port plugs (PortPlugTestFacility – PPTF). The delegation also managed to see the process of PPTF subsystem manufacture process.
 

Photo: March 2023, the representatives of all companies-members of the ITER in the Russian Federation, production site of the “NPO “GKMP” LLC.

The delegation members noted a well-organized production and work performance of the company. The research supervisor of the Kurchatov department of thermonuclear energy and plasma technology of the Kurchatov scientific research institute, the Deputy Chairman of the ITIC Peter Khvostenko assessed the company’s performance and noted the importance of cooperation between the ITER and the “NPO “GKMP” LLC.

The General Director of the “NPO “GKMP” LLC Nikolay Inutin expressed his confidence that the company will manage to take its place among the leading manufacturers of vacuum, cryogenic and thermal hardware both in Russia and in neighboring countries despite the sanctions. “I believe that production capacities of the “NPO “GKMP” LLC that are currently under development will enable us to overcome difficulties caused by sanctions” - , said Mr. Inutin.

“The company has a great deal of work ahead. Nevertheless, we already have something to be proud of, especially of those related to vacuum hardware and special-purpose hardware”, - emphasized Deputy Director of the “NPO “GKMP” LLC Dmitry Alfimov at the Board session.

Photo: on the background – test vessel and distribution platform of the Port Plug Test Facility, director of the ITER project office in the “NPO “GKMP” LLC Olesya Solovyeva and the Director of the Private institution of the State atomic corporation “Rosatom” “ITER project office” (private institution ITER-center) – Russian ITER Agency, Anatoliy Krasilnikov.

“Today the “NPO “GKMP” LLC is the only Russian company that adopts unique equipment and design-engineering team that is capable to meet the needs of our most high-tech and large-scale ITER systems, as it is set forth by the obligations of the Russian Federation, namely Port plug test facilities”, - noted the director of the ITER project office Olesya Solovyeva.

As we have already mentioned, the International agreement between the ITER International organization and the Russian Domestic Agency provides that in total four test facilities are to be delivered: two of them are intended for operation in non-nuclear conditions in the Building 55 and test port plugs prior to be integrated into the ITER’s tokamak, another two are to be tested in a so-called “hot cell” where port plugs shall be subject to testing directly after being exposed to tritium and diyttrium.

The vast experience in design and production of vacuum chambers, including those capable to operate in super vacuum (10^-5 Pa and above). Thanks to the hardware and well-equipped Bryansk production site one ensures high precision mechanical machining of large-scale items. Therefore, the “NPO “GKMP” LLC was selected as a production site in order to design and implement an engineering project aimed at production of components for vacuum facilities for testing of upper and equatorial port plugs.

The implementation of the ITER project provides a strong impetus that promotes the advanced industrial technologies, boost science-intensive production for Russian export and adopts international quality assurance standards and certification.

Another focus of the ITIC was the production of large-scale superconductors in Russia. The said niobium-tin and niobium-titanium based superconductors will be used for windings of ITER toroidal and poloidal magnetic fields. The combination of magnetic fields that run through these windings create proper conditions to trap plasma inside the thermonuclear reactor and ensure thermal insulation.

Today the ITER (International thermonuclear experimental reactor) that is expected to prove scientific and technical feasibility to use energy resulting from thermal nuclear fusion at industrial scale, encompasses the EU, China, India, Russia, USA, The South Korea and Japan. In the heart of the thermonuclear reactor the temperature of 150 million degrees is constantly maintained; the specific modes provide 300 million degrees (for comparison, the internal temperature of the Sun is equal to 20 million Cº). At the same time one unit of thermal nuclear propellant provides 10 mln times more energy than the one resulted from organic propellant combustion, and 100 times more than while decay of uranium nuclei in APS reactors.  The start of the ITER project goes back in the USSR that gave to the world a tokamak (toroidal chamber with magnetic coils) as a feasible source of thermal nuclear energy.