Westinghouse to assemble core of the world’s largest fusion reactor

Westinghouse Electric Company has secured a $180 million contract with the ITER Organization to undertake the final assembly of the tokamak’s core component—the vacuum vessel—at the world’s largest nuclear fusion facility, ITER. This vacuum vessel is a double-walled steel chamber that will contain the fusion plasma, and Westinghouse will weld together its nine sectors to form the torus-shaped chamber. The contract marks a significant milestone as ITER progresses toward its goal of achieving 500 MW of fusion power output from 50 MW of input heating power, demonstrating a tenfold energy gain. ITER aims to conduct initial deuterium-deuterium fusion operations by 2035 and ultimately prove fusion as a large-scale, carbon-free energy source, although it will not generate electricity itself. Westinghouse, a veteran in nuclear fission technology, has been involved with ITER for over a decade, contributing to the manufacturing of vacuum vessel sectors alongside partners in the AMW consortium. The ITER project is a massive international collaboration