Sarah Sybert
Jacobs has continued its initiative to develop clean energy with the award of several contracts, with an estimated combined value of more than $25M, by Fusion for Energy, ITER Organization and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, the company announced on Tuesday.
“These new contracts add to our considerable, long-term contribution to the ITER project and keep us at the forefront of nuclear fusion, which could provide future generations with a clean, safe and virtually unlimited source of energy,” said Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions International Senior Vice President Clive White.
Jacobs has been selected to support leading-edge research in fusion, a potential source of safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy. The company will provide a range of technological and engineering innovation and support to ITER’s project based in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, France.
ITER Organization has also selected Jacobs to its integrated engineering framework as part of a consortium with Orano Projects and the Madrid-based Universidad Nacional de Educatión a Distancia. Jacobs will minimize operator exposure to radiation during planned maintenance activities by combining collaboration skills with knowledge of ITER maintenance activities, remote handling, radiation and contamination assessment and hazard risk reduction.
Jacobs will deliver and supply technology, under an existing contract with ITER Organization, to monitor corrosion in the hermetically sealed vacuum vessel that houses the fusion reactions. The contract also includes the production of safety documentation for submission to French regulators.
In addition, Jacobs has been awarded both lots of a framework contract to provide ITER Organization with engineering support in relation to the Tokamak Complex Detritiation System, which is key to decontamination and fuel recycling.
Jacobs will continue to support Fusion for Energy, which is responsible for the European Union contribution to ITER. The company has demonstrated safe operating and maintenance methods for helium-cooled pebble bed test blanket technology.
With the contracts, Jacobs will continue to grow its support to the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s research into design, engineering and manufacturing of components for fusion power stations with the award of a $18.4 million contract to design and build a test facility to replicate typical fusion conditions of extreme heat flux, high-pressure cooling and immensely strong electromagnetic fields.
The purpose of the facility is to test components for any fusion reactor, whether experimental such as ITER or to support designs for commercial electricity generation. Jacobs will support UKAEA scientists, with partners from around the globe, to develop fusion as a new source of cleaner energy for tomorrow’s power stations.
UKAEA also awarded Jacobs a range of work to support the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), a U.K. government-funded program to design and build a prototype fusion reactor.
The contracts address several key areas where Jacobs can develop innovations to help drive the design and implementation, including modelling and simulation, alloy development and materials science, breeder blanket and divertor design, digital engineering, balance of plant and siting.
“As innovators with a combination of fusion-specific and cross-sector engineering experience, we are focused on delivering long-term efficiency and schedule certainty for this important project,” White added.
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