Nov. 24 – When it comes to fusion research, Italy contributes via solid innovation. Over the past three years, Italian companies have won contracts for over €900 million within the ITER program, amounting to nearly 60% of European orders for high-tech components. The international experiment sees Italy participate via its ENEA Frascati laboratories. The seminar “ITER: global competitiveness and fusion,” held today in Milan with ENEA in collaboration with Confindustria Lombardia, took stock of the progress made on fusion research and reinforced the importance of technology transfers for the development and competitiveness of the Italian system. The seminar, part of the events organized under the Italian Presidency of the EU, saw the participation of some of the greatest exponents of fusion research, including Jerome Pamela, director of Iter France, and Aldo Pizzuto, Fusion Technical Unit Manager for ENEA. Companies were also involved, with the participation of Marianna Ginola of Simic, Roberto Adinolfi of Ansaldo Nucleare, Vincenzo Giori of ASG Superconductors, and Markus Kind of R-Kind (Germany). More than 500 Italian companies are interested in this venture: Ansaldo Nucleare (Genoa), ASG superconductors (Genoa), Simic (Cuneo), Walter Tosto (Chieti), and Mangiarotti (Sedegliano) are just some of the companies that were awarded contracts for hundreds of millions of euros for the construction of the vacuum chamber, the heart of the ITER project, and other important components, such as superconducting coils and diverters. Smaller companies, such as Tratos (Arezzo), Ocem (Bologna), Criotec (Chivasso), Delta-Ti Plants (Rivoli), Zanon (Schio), CECOM (Rome) and Angelantoni Test Technologies (Perugia), also took part in the project with smaller commissions. (Red)
