ST. PETERSBURG, November 1. /TASS/. On Tuesday, Russian experts sent to France key equipment for what will hopefully become the world's largest International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The product in question is a 200-ton poloidal field coil PF-1, designed for starting and maintaining thermonuclear fusion, the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard has told TASS.

"The 200-ton coil is a unique innovative solution and a key element of the thermonuclear reactor. Fourteen years of fruitful creative work have been completed. Today we are shipping this coil, and this is a truly significant event," the special representative of the state corporation Rosatom for international and scientific and technical projects, Vyacheslav Pershukov, said at the ceremony.

The nine-meter PF-1 is one of six poloidal field coils expected to maintain the fusion reaction and keep the plasma inside the reactor within a certain range. The press-service of the equipment developer, D. V. Yefremov NIIEFA, told TASS, Chinese specialists are responsible for the manufacture of one more coil. Another four larger coils will be made in France.

The director of the ITER-Center private institution of the Rosatom state corporation, Anatoly Krasilnikov, previously told TASS that Russia was currently fully fulfilling its obligations to supply equipment for the implementation of the ITER international thermonuclear reactor project.

ITER reactor

ITER is a project for what may become the world's first international thermonuclear experimental reactor of a new generation, which the international community is building in Provence (France), near Marseilles. The objective of the project is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of using fusion energy on an industrial scale, as well as to develop the related technological processes.

The development of the project began in the mid-1980s. Construction work began in 2010. Its completion is expected in 2025. The reactor is being created jointly by specialists from the EU countries, Russia, China, the US, India, Kazakhstan, Japan and South Korea. As the press service of the D. V. Yefremov NIIEFA explained to TASS, all countries participating in the project would have equal access to using the ITER infrastructure for research and commercial purposes.