bFUS Programme

Description

Since 2010 IREC has been leading the “Barcelona Fusion Centre” (bFUS) programme with the aim of promoting and boosting research activities in the field of nuclear fusion technologies in Catalonia. This programme was developed within the framework of the international project ITER and the European Fusion Program by EUROfusion. IREC has been working on mechanical design of fusion components, energy storage systems, grid integration studies, cryogenics and cryodistribution, fuel cycle and superconductivity.

Since 2018, IREC has become the System Responsible of the High Energy Beam Transport Line (HEBT) and Beam Dump Subsystem of the Accelerator of the IFMIF DONES Facility. DONES is expected to be built in Granada, Spain and it will be the 1st facility to provide experimental data on the behavior of fusion reactor candidate materials under neutron irradiation levels of a fusion machine.

In 2018, members of the bFUS program participated in the installation and commissioning of the HEBT and the Beam Dump of the Linear IFMIF Particle Accelerator (LIPAc) at Rokkasho, Japan, in the framework of the IFMIF/EVEDA project. The LIPAc is the 1st prototype accelerator aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of the accelerator for the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF). 

The bFUS Programme has also allowed IREC to establish technology transfer collaborations with Catalan industry. These collaborations have increased their technology capabilities allowing them to obtain industrial contracts in nuclear fusion and particle accelerators programs.