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Ensa, within a group of technologists, winner of the «Secretary’s Honor Awards – Achievement Award»

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The Cantabrian company was nominated in May 2018 for an R&D project on its ENUN32P cask.

Maliaño, 04 October 2018.- Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E in collaboration with other national and international technologists -Enresa and Enusa, the American laboratories: Sandia National Laboratories and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and several South Korean organizations , has finally won the «Secretary’s Honor Awards – Achievement Award» granted by the Department of Energy of the Government of the United States of America for an R&D project to study the behaviour of spent fuel elements transported in its ENUN 32P dual-purpose, storage and transport cask, and verify the calculations made during the design.

U.S. laboratory Sandia led this international data collection test during an eight-month triathlon to quantify the accelerations and vibrations and deformations experienced by uranium oxide rods from a simulated spent fuel element during transportation by rail, ship and truck. Its analysis revealed that the accelerations and deformations were well below the resistance limit of the irradiated fuel.

The award recognizes the contribution of this equipment to the benefit of U.S. society and represents the highest non-monetary recognition that can be received.

Other entities that have received this prestigious award have been the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NASA.

 

Water tanks to quench ITER’s thirst

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Four more water detritiation tanks have been delivered to ITER as part of its fuel cycle system. The components were the result of a contract signed between F4E and Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E to design, manufacture and deliver them to Cadarche. The works for their manufacture lasted approximately two years.

Two tanks known as «storage tanks», with capacity of 7 m3, will be used to store water. Two additional tanks known as «feed tanks», with capacity of 12 m3, will be used to feed the fuel cycle system with tritiated water. The four tanks will be installed next to the six water detritiation tanks, also manufactured by Ensa in 2015, being the first components in Europe delivered to ITER. The largest fusion device will have ten of these tanks in total to meet the needs of its fuel cycle.

Why do we need a water detritiation system at the ITER Tritium plant? This system is needed to recover the fuel to use it again in order to trigger a new fusion reaction. It works as follows: first, the two isotopes of hydrogen are supplied to the machine through the Tritium plant; second, when the two isotopes reach the core of the machine, they are heated to extremely high temperatures to fuse and release energy; finally, the remaining fuel from the fusion reaction, along with other gases, is pumped back to the ITER Tritium plant to recover the tritium and use it in a future reaction.

For Sofia Corino, Special Projects Manager for Ensa in the Business Development Division: «Ensa, in cooperation with its subsidiary, ENWESA, has been responsible for the design and manufacture of the four additional water detritiation tanks that will form part of ITER’s fuel cycle system. Ensa’s experience and commitment to innovation have been decisive in consolidating it as one of the leading European component manufacturers for the largest fusion energy project».

Ensa will supply several components for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in the United Kingdom

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Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E has recently been awarded a contract to manufacture two pressurizers for Framatome, the first supplier for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant . The Cantabrian Company is also responsible for the design, manufacture and supply of different tanks that will be embedded in the civil works: fourteen different components for the two units of the British plant. Each unit contains: a pressurised tank, a tank for the reactor cooling system and a volume control tank, as well as four accumulators and two rings; for the support and settlement of the reactor.

This marks the end of a commercial phase in which Ensa has overcome numerous challenges, developing value propositions that have allowed it to differentiate itself from stiff competition until finally being awarded these projects, which represents a milestone for Ensa in the panorama of the manufacture of components for nuclear power plants in the world market: Supplying these components in the United Kingdom is a strong endorsement of Ensa’s trajectory as a multi-system manufacturer, with different products and its internationalization, as well as an extensive experience that allows it to offer customized  services adapted to each client and situation.

Hinkley Point C , currently under construction, has a projected useful life of sixty years and is currently a leading project and international reference in the nuclear field and among the most relevant in the West.

Ensa to manufacture four tanks for ITER’s Water Detritiation System

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Maliaño, December the 7th of 2016. – Equipos Nucleares, SA has been awarded the contract for the final design, manufacture and delivery of four tanks of the Water Detritiation System of the ITER project: two High Level Holding Tanks and  two Feeding Tanks.

The company located in Cantabria has signed this contract after undergoing a procurement process launched by Fusion for Energy , the EU body managing Europe’s contribution to ITER.

With this new contract, Ensa is consolidated as one of the main European manufacturers of components for large scientific facilities such as ITER.

The high quality of its components, the fulfillment of delivery time, the commitment to innovation and the technological development of the company located in Cantabria have been decisive for this award.

In March 2015, the tanks manufactured by ENSA for the Tritiated Water System, were Europe’s first-ever components to be delivered on the ITER worksite- one of the most important civil engineering platforms today.

The objective of ITER is to test the viability of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source, prior to the construction of a commercial demonstration facility.

Fusion for Energy

 Is the European Union’s organisation for Europe’s contribution to ITER.  One of the main tasks of F4E is to work together with European industry, SMEs and research organisations to develop and provide a wide range of high technology components together with engineering, maintenance and support services for the ITER project.

F4E supports fusion R&D initiatives through the Broader Approach Agreement signed with Japan and prepares for the construction of demonstration fusion reactors . F4E was created by a decision of the Council of the European Union as an independent legal entity and was established in April 2007 for a period of 35 years. Its offices are in Barcelona, Spain.