Converteam to power a landmark nuclear fusion project in South Korea

Rugby, 12 April 2010 - Converteam has been selected to supply the electrical equipment for KSTAR, a leading nuclear fusion project developed by the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) in Daejeon, South Korea, supporting the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.

The system is based on a Tokamak, a doughnut-shaped chamber used in fusion research in which a plasma is heated and confined by magnetic fields. The work being undertaken is aimed at researching the long term commercial viability of production of low cost electricity from nuclear fusion, the same process through which the sun and the stars produce heat and light.

Converteam has already deployed, in the past, its power electronics and generation technologies in the Joint European Torus project which is located at Abingdon in the U.K. and for the two German landmark fusion projects known as ASDEX Upgrade and Wendelstein 7 fusion initiative.

Dr Kim, Head of the Plant Engineering Division in NFRI, said: “we selected Converteam for their remarkable references in this high tech niche segment”.

For KSTAR, Converteam will supply a pulse power supply generator having a stored energy capacity of 3433 megajoules, together with a Converteam MV7000 variable speed drive system.

The power supply generator is a large diameter vertical machine of the hydro type in-corporating an impressive 400-ton flywheel. The energy stored in this flywheel is re-leased as an electromagnetic pulse which is used to provide the magnetic field in the Tokamak.

“The award of this project represents tremendous recognition of the Converteam green technologies’ portfolio that range from wind, solar and tidal energy to nuclear and fusion” said Derek Grieve, Director Technology in Converteam.

After assembly and testing in South Korea the power supply generator is expected to be ready for plasma testing by June 2012.

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