F4E signs the Ion Source and Extraction Power Supplies contract

High-energy beams of neutral atoms, such as deuterium, will be injected into the core of the ITER plasma through a Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) system to transfer their energy to the plasma and raise its overall temperature. ITER will be equipped initially with two NBI systems, which will deliver up to 16.5 MW power each of neutral atoms at 1MeV of energy with one-hour long pulses. The neutral beam is obtained by accelerating a beam of negative ions and neutralising it through an interaction with neutral gas of the same type. Any non-neutralised atoms are removed from the beam through an electrostatic field.

ITER foresees the construction of a full scale test facility called PRIMA, which will be built in Padua in the Consorzio RFX Area and will be dedicated to the neutral beam development. PRIMA will host two test-beds: SPIDER, a full scale ion source test facility, operating at reduced energy (up to 100 keV), and MITICA, a full scale 1 MV prototype of the ITER Neutral Beam Injector.

On 4 June, F4E signed the contract for the design, manufacturing, factory testing, delivery, installation and acceptance testing of two sets of Ion Source and Extraction Power Supplies (ISEPS) which will feed the two Ion Sources of the Neutral Beam Injector test facility in Padua. The value of the contract for the two sets is of approximately 10 million EUR and was awarded to O.C.E.M. S.p.A. A key subcontractor of the main supplier, Himmelwerk GmbH, will manufacture the RF Generators included in each set of ISEPS. The kick-off meeting between F4E and the main contractor O.C.E.M S.p.A. took place at F4E premises in Barcelona on 16 June.

The first ISEPS, for the SPIDER experiment, is expected to be assembled and tested on-site in just over two years, in September 2012. Two additional ISEPS, currently set as options of this procurement, will be procured at a later stage for the two ITER Neutral Beam Injectors.