Advanced manufacturing technologies to boost Spain's nuclear fusion industry

The Spanish Government has financed the 7.34 million RODAS project aimed at the development materials and research into advanced manufacturing technologies to obtain components for the development the Spanish nuclear fusion industry.

The consortium is made up of a group of research centers, led by Ceit, and a group of companies that seek to solve the current technical challenges to obtain critical components, of large dimensions and complex geometries, for nuclear fusion reactors, combining additive manufacturing and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) technologies.

Nuclear fusion is presented as one of the most promising energy solutions for the future, thanks to its safety and practically inexhaustible availability of resources. However, it requires the manufacture of large components with extremely complex geometries and excellent mechanical properties, capable of resisting very high temperatures and radiation, which remains the challenge core topic for the development of this technology. With the goal of overcoming these barriers, the 'RODAS' project was born, an initiative that seeks to develop advanced manufacturing technologies, focused especially in the field of additive manufacturing combined with technologies such as Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), for the production of critical components for nuclear fusion reactors.

The project, with a duration of four years, aims to provide companies with knowledge and technology that will enable them to take on future projects in the field of nuclear fusion in Spain. The project, with a budget of 7.34 million euros, has received funding of 5.65 million euros from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the Center for Technological development and Innovation (CDTI) and the State research Agency (AEI), within the framework of the TransMisiones 2024 initiative.

RODAS' will help solve the current challenges in obtaining nuclear fusion reactor components, such as long submission times, complex manufacturing processes involving a multitude of successive stages of machining, joining and heat treatment, as well as high raw material and energy consumption.

Innovation in materials, manufacturing technologies and testing

RODAS is a project articulated around three core topic areas: materials and manufacturing technologies and advanced testing. " With the results obtained, companies will be trained in knowledge and technology to address future projects and tenders related to nuclear fusion," says Nerea Ordás, director of the Additive Manufacturing and Powder Metallurgy group at CEIT.

In the field of advanced materials, work will focus on the development of new powder metallurgical alloys, such as EUROFER and CuCrZr, capable of withstanding high temperatures and radiation. In addition, the gas atomization process will be optimized to improve the production of metal powders used in additive manufacturing, thus facilitating their integration into industrial processes.

In this sense, they will work on the research and development of new alloys of high performing materials and advanced thermomechanical properties specially designed for nuclear fusion components, "demonstrating also that additive manufacturing technology is technically and economically viable to obtain actively cooled components of complex geometry and large dimensions, capable of meeting the stringent requirements of nuclear fusion," says Marcos Perez, business development director of Leading Metalmechanical Solutions. 

Regarding advanced manufacturing, different manufacturing techniques will be investigated, such as PBF-L (Direct Metal Fusion by Laser), DED (Focused Energy Deposition), WAAM (Additive Manufacturing by Arc and Wire) or the new ROV-MAM technique, with the goal of obtaining parts with complex geometries and large dimensions and achieving a significant reduction in material waste. The hybridization of manufacturing processes will also be investigated.

One of the main innovations of the RODAS project will be the possibility of simultaneous application of heat treatments and the Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) technology developed by Hiperbaric. " We are developing a new generation of HIP press and furnace of large dimensions, unique in Spain, with high cooling speeds and equipped with an advanced control architecture through the application of Artificial Intelligence," says Andrés Hernando, CEO of Hiperbaric.

Finally, advanced testing will be carried out to validate new materials and processes using non-destructive techniques, such as computed tomography and ultrasound, thus ensuring the integrity of components without the need for destructive testing.

Impact and benefits for Spanish industry

The development of these technologies will have a significant impact on industry, science and sustainability, contributing to the development of nuclear fusion as an energy source . Thanks to the optimization of advanced manufacturing processes, production times for core topic components are expected to be reduced from eight to two weeks and material waste will be minimized by up to 80 %, thus respecting the environment. In addition, the use of the new materials will improve the service life and efficiency of the fusion reactors.

A tractor effect of the Spanish industrial fabric will be generated, promoting the training of companies in thematic areas related to materials with advanced properties, allowing these companies to position themselves in the science industry sector, facilitating their access to public tenders of IFMIF-DONES (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility - DEMO Neutron source oriented to demonstration) or ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor - International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor).

A reference letter consortium for an ambitious project

The 'RODAS' project has a consortium formed by two groups. On the one hand, the grouping of the Center for Technological development and Innovation CDTI, led by Leading Metalmechanical Solutions and composed of the companies Hiperbaric, Rovalma, Innomaq21 and Novadep NDT Systems. On the other hand, the grouping of the State research Agency (AEI), led by the CEIT Technology Center and formed by CIEMAT, IDONIAL Foundation and the University of Granada.

While the AEI cluster will undertake research, materials development , manufacturing process optimization and component validation, the CDTI cluster will focus on the validation of advanced manufacturing technologies and development of full-scale applications. This combination of knowledge researcher and industrial internship experience guarantees the feasibility and success of the project, allowing the effective transfer of scientific advances to industry.

The project was launched last January with a meeting held at Ceits facilities, in which all the consortium partners participated. During the meeting , the first steps were defined and the roadmap for the coming years was established.