Antimatter seeks inspiration in fusion

The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research FAIR is an international accelerator facility under construction. The facility will use antiprotons and ions to solve some of the most perplexing mysteries of matter and will carry out experiments in the area of high density plasma physics. The facility is being built in Darmstadt, Germany, by partners from Finland, France, Germany, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia and Sweden that signed an international treaty, the FAIR Convention, in March 2014. It should be ready in few years’ time and is expected to host more than 3000 scientists from about 50 countries.

Dr. Sonia Utermann and Felix Arndt from FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) visited Fusion for Energy on 17-18 July 2018 to meet F4E colleagues and exchange best practices in the procurement of high technology components for big science facilities. Discussions focused in particular on F4E practices in pre-procurement analysis, indexation, open software, export control, and in-kind procurement. The FAIR colleagues were hosted by Leonardo Biagioni, F4E Head of Contracts & Procurement, and Victor Saez, Head of Market Intelligence. Dr. Utermann thanked them sincerely for welcoming them to Barcelona and underlined that “F4E experience in procurement is extremely useful for us and would be of great help for improving our practices”.