· Order for 12 units in addition to the six currently in production, giving MHI responsibility for production of units for 18 of the total 54 divertors
· Manufacture and delivery of major components for ITER to contribute to the steady advancement of nuclear fusion development
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has been awarded a contract from Japan's National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) related to the ITER experimental fusion reactor(Note1),(Note2) currently under construction in southern France. The contract is for manufacture of 12 additional units of the Outer Vertical Target, a key component of the Divertor. MHI received this order in recognition of its accumulated technologies for mass production of components with a high degree of manufacturing difficulty, and follows the initial production order for manufacture of six units (Unit 1 - Unit 6) received in 2021.(Note3) With the additional 12 units (Unit 7 - Unit 18), MHI will handle manufacture for 18 of the total 54 units. Production of these units will be completed successively, with delivery to QST expected to begin in 2026.
The divertor is one of the most crucial components of the fusion reactor used in the tokamak. Its function is to discharge unburned fuel and impurities such as helium (He) in the core plasma generated by the fusion reaction, in order to stably confine the plasma.
The heat load on the divertor reaches a maximum of 20MW/m². This is equivalent to the surface thermal load on an asteroid probe during re-entry into the atmosphere, and approximately 30 times the surface thermal load on the Space Shuttle. Since the Outer Vertical Target, which directly faces the plasma due to its structure, is used in an extreme environment where it is exposed to the heat load and high energy particle loading from the plasma, and its structure has an extremely complex shape, high-precision fabrication and processing technology is required.
MHI has also received orders for production for five (of a total of 19) toroidal field (TF) coils, another core component of ITER, all of which were shipped by 2023.(Note4) Going forward, MHI will continue its efforts for manufacturing of major components such as the divertor and equatorial launcher.(Note5) In addition, MHI will actively support the design and development of the fusion prototype reactor planned to be constructed following the ITER project, contributing to the realization of fusion energy.
