Assystem’s Sunderland engineering team will lead two crucial aspects of the UK’s STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) fusion project – Breeder Blanket and Materials Database, Assystem said on 20 December. STEP is being designed at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA’s) site at Culham in Oxfordshire. Assystem’s team of engineers will be contributing from their bases in Sunderland, Derby and Blackburn. Assystemhas experience delivering fusion projects including leading the design of the Divertor Remote Handling System (DRHS)  for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), under construction in France. The DRHS is a robotic arm that can operate inside the extremely hot environment of the fusion reactor.

Assystem, with UK headquarters in Blackburn, confirmed its role in two crucial elements of the government’s GBP220 million ($286m) nuclear fusion power station design project. Assystem will be creating designs for the new Breeder Blanket and developing a Materials Database that will be key in assessing the theoretical performance and manufacturing readiness of a new nuclear fusion reactor. The breeder blankets will be pivotal in the success of the new nuclear fusion designs by generating fuel and usable heat. Encasing the inner reactor, the breeder blankets will play three key roles within the power plant.

Firstly, by encompassing the nuclear reactor, the breeder blanket will maintain the most efficient heat for the reactor to operate, secondly, it contains and absorbs radiation. Thirdly, the blanket captures, slows and multiplies fusion neutrons using them to convert lithium into tritium to fuel the reactor. The blanket will continually produce the same amount of tritium which is required to fuel the reactor.

The materials database being developed by Assystem will gather and scrutinise information generated from the testing of materials in different parts of the STEP reactor. Assystem will provide a detailed review of the STEP programme’s current delivery tools, processes and procedures to help produce a set of recommendations based upon its own digital asset management experience.

Kevin Wilkinson, Business Unit Director, Assystem said, “With global dialogue on reducing carbon emissions becoming an urgent priority, we commend the nation’s commitment to investing in the development of fusion energy and are proud to be associated with STEP.”