The first component of the EU-Japan nuclear fusion reactor within the Broader Approach programme is entirely Italian. The component, presented in Genoa by ENEA and ASG Superconductors, is a superconducting magnet for the experimental nuclear fusion reactor JT-60SA, currently under construction in Naka, Japan. The coils made by ENEA and ASG Superconductors will be the components of the fusion reactor core, so that plasma is confined into the Tokamak, the facility that will burn the first plasma in 2019 and to be built as part of the Broader Approach programme.
Italy has committed itself to contribute to implementing the bilateral agreement by entrusting ENEA with the task of providing 9 out of the 18 coils of the superconducting magnet, containment vessels and power supply systems included. The value of this first order is over 17 million euro for ASG plus 10 million euro for the structural components made by Walter Tosto, and about 12 million euro for the supply systems powering magnets. The supply of advanced components by Italian industries in international research programs on nuclear fusion, such as Broader Approach and ITER, currently being realized in France, already exceeded 1 billion euro.
ENEA’s nuclear fusion expertise has been developed in its Frascati Research centre, a centre of excellence on fusion research and internationally acknowledged since the fifties. In addition, ENEA’s technological development, in collaboration with industries, has generated know-how of international value in highly strategic sectors for nuclear fusion energy.