ITER water detritiation tanks installed

The installation of the six large-sized tanks, part of ITER’s water detritiation system, has been successfully completed. This is considered a landmark achievement for two reasons: first, these have been the first European components to arrive on-site and second, they are the first components of the ITER machine to be installed in the Tokamak complex, where the main systems of the biggest fusion device will be housed.

Giovanni Piazza and Josep Benet, F4E’s Technical Officers following the manufacturing of these tanks, were present to witness history in the making and supervise this delicate operation. “The size of the tanks and the limited space where we had to fit them required good planning and a high level of precision. The installation required excellent co-ordination with ITER International Organization (IO) and F4E’s Buildings team to perform the installation without any impact on the pace of construction” they explained.

When ITER starts operating, these tanks will collect the water containing tritium in order to recover it and subsequently use it in future fusion reactions. Four tanks, weighing approximately 5 tonnes and measuring 20 m3 each, will be part of this system. Two bigger tanks, weighing approximately 20 tonnes and measuring 100 m3 each, will be used for the tritium recovery phase in exceptional circumstances.

The contract awarded to Ensa, Spain, builds on the expertise of Empresarios Agrupados and GEA as subcontractors. The companies had to comply with a series of safety and quality requirements that apply to ITER components. It has taken roughly 20 months for the six tanks to be designed and manufactured for a value of approximately 2 million EUR.

View the installation of the water detritiation tanks

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