GDES participates in the construction of the largest fusion reactor in the world
- GDES Surface Treatment Business Unit has been awarded the contract for the application of coatings on the Tokamak building, the main building that will house the ITER device.
- Up to 40 workers from the French subsidiary of GDES will contribute over the next 3,5 years to the construction of ITER; the largest science and engineering project worldwide.
FUSION FOR ENERGY (F4E), the European Union organisation managing Europe’s contribution to ITER, and being solely responsible for the construction of the buildings on-site, has engaged the services of the GDES Surface Treatment Unit for the application of specific coatings to the building under construction, in which the ITER machine will be located, and its annex buildings.
The GDES group, will perform carry out works during the next 3,5 years and will involve up to 40 workers from the French subsidiary of the company.
ITER (which in Latin means the “the way”) is one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world. Its facilities are in Cadarache, southern France, and it results from the collaboration of 35 countries to test the potential of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars.
GDES is part of the team that will build the enclosure where the ITER device will be housed (the Tokamak building) and the surrounding buildings for achieving deuterium-tritium plasma, GDES is in charge of applying different types of coatings, combining works with scaffolding, auxiliary resources and working at height over a total surface of 120,000 m2.
The different coatings to be applied include:
- Decontaminable and non-decontaminable coatings.
- Anti-carbonation coatings.
- Coatings with high resistance to chemicals and heavy traffic.
- Coatings with high resistance to irradiation.
- Coatings that meet additional electrostatic conductivity requirements.
- Coatings resistant to oils and specific chemical elements.
ITER is considered the most complex scientific project in history. For Héctor Dominguis, CEO of GDES, “the participation of our group in the ITER project reaffirms the internationalisation of our services and gives us the opportunity to actively participate in the construction of the most exciting research project in the energy sector today”.
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