Kyoto Fusioneering Wins QST Contract to Develop Mockups for ITER Tritium Extraction and Accountancy Systems

Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd. (KF) announced that it has received an order from the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) to develop mockups of the Tritium Extraction System (TES) and Tritium Accountancy System (TAS) for an ITER test blanket system development project. The work will be carried out in Japan before implementation at ITER, the fusion experimental reactor under construction in southern France, to identify manufacturing risks and improve technical confidence. The mockups will be designed and manufactured using KF’s accumulated expertise in tritium handling, then installed at the Blanket Engineering Test Building of QST’s Rokkasho Fusion Energy Institute in Aomori Prefecture. They will subsequently be used for testing and demonstration toward implementation in the Test Blanket Module (TBM) program under the ITER project. The TBM program is a special framework within ITER in which participating parties bring independently developed technologies to ITER and compare and verify their effectiveness. The mockups will apply technologies independently developed by Japan. The test blanket system consists of the TBM and related auxiliary subsystems. It is a critical system for demonstrating technologies to produce, recover, and self-supply tritium fuel inside a reactor for future fusion power generation. The TES and TAS mockups to be developed by KF are core systems for enabling fuel self-sufficiency in fusion energy plants, and will be verified domestically as Japan’s proprietary design and operational technologies before application to ITER. In addition to manufacturing the systems, KF will also build a remote-control program using CODAC Core System, ITER’s standard control software. By verifying the systems in a control environment equivalent to ITER equipment, the project will demonstrate remote-control technologies with future real-machine operations in mind. The Tritium Extraction System (TES) extracts tritium generated in the blanket together with helium gas, then recovers and separates it. It combines multiple processing devices, including drying columns that remove moisture from the gas and palladium diffusers that allow only tritium to permeate. The system plays a key role in establishing fuel production technology for fusion energy plants. The Tritium Accountancy System (TAS) measures and manages the quantity of recovered tritium with high precision. It provides functions essential for fuel management and safety assurance in fusion plants. QST, Japan’s core institution for fusion energy research and development, is advancing R&D in blanket engineering and tritium handling technologies at the Rokkasho Fusion Energy Institute, with ITER and future power generation demonstrations in view. KF specializes in integrated engineering for the equipment and systems needed to realize fusion energy plants. Since its founding, the company has worked on the design and development of breeding blankets, tritium fuel cycles, and related systems. Fusion Fuel Cycles, a joint venture between KF and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, is currently building UNITY-2 in Canada, the world’s first integrated tritium fuel cycle system test facility. UNITY-2 includes world-leading tritium purification and accountancy technologies, which KF will use to contribute to the TBM program. Kei Seko, President and COO of Kyoto Fusioneering, said the company is honored to support QST’s efforts in the TBM program, which aims to demonstrate the viability of fusion as a future energy source using Japan’s proprietary technologies. He said KF has been working to establish engineering technologies for blankets, fuel cycles, and related systems required for fusion energy plants, and will use this project to connect those technologies to the success of ITER and to power generation demonstrations for the early social implementation of fusion energy. Building on QST’s world-leading foundation in solid breeder water-cooled blanket technology, KF will continue to create value through technologies that leverage its strengths as a private company, while promoting public-private technology development and the social implementation of fusion energy.