ITER Project
The ITER project, currently under development in Cadarache, southern France, represents a formidable scientific and technological challenge worth over 20 billion euros. Operated by a consortium of 35 countries, including members of the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and others, ITER aims to generate clean, safe and virtually unlimited energy to meet the growing needs of future generations. At the same time, the project aims to overcome the current limits of knowledge and innovation, opening new horizons in the field of scientific and technological research.
STEM disciplines form the foundation of technological innovations that drive progress in society. Studies in these fields foster a problem-solving-centered approach, enabling students to analyze situations, form hypotheses and seek solutions based on data and scientific evidence. STEM-related careers are increasingly in demand in the global job market, with companies seeking qualified professionals to lead research and technological development.
ITER, acronym for "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor", is the largest international thermonuclear experimental reactor in the world, through which it is intended to demonstrate the technical and scientific feasibility of producing energy from nuclear fusion reactions, similar to those which occur in the nucleus of Sun.
Fusion for Energy (F4E) is an agency based in Barcelona, established in 2007 within the EU with the precise aim of transforming fusion energy into a concrete reality. This organization is responsible for the EU's participation in the project and works with international partners to provide key components and technological support for the ITER reactor. Within this context, Gruppo SIGLA - a company of the Relatech Group - carried out a support activity for the realization of the automation of one of the auxiliary components of the project. The approach to this development is completely innovative in the automation panorama, taking advantage of the project tools to automatically generate part of the plant process logic. A unified standard was therefore used for the entire plant, automatically integrating the interfaces. of supervision. For Gruppo SIGLA it was a splendid opportunity to participate in such a large-scale experimental project, where partners from all over the world converge their skills to achieve an objective of such importance.
Nuclear fusion is considered a clean and sustainable energy option because it does not emit greenhouse gases and can generate a significant amount of energy with a relatively minimal amount of fuel material. Despite the promising prospects, the practical transformation of fusion into a large-scale energy source requires substantial technological and scientific progress. The ITER project is a crucial step toward realizing this ambitious goal.