Industrial machinery

Tender description

Generic upper port plug tower system mock-up. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is a non-departmental government body carrying out research into nuclear fusion as a future source of energy. At UKAEA, we are involved in the development of remote maintenance processes for Fusion reactor components within the ITER Hot Cell Complex (HCC). ITER is an international project, with 35 nations collaborating to design, construct and operate a prototype controlled nuclear fusion reactor in southern France. During the reactor’s life the Generic Upper Port Plug (GUPP), consisting of three main assemblies and weighing approx. 22 436 Kg and approx. 5.5 m in length, must be remotely removed from the reactor, transferred to the HCC and dismantled for maintenance. This project aims to build a mock-up of the tilting and extraction tower and the GUPP in order to carry out a number of trials to test the feasibility of the process and design, in a non-radiation environment. UKAEA are raising this prior information notice to engage with potential suppliers ahead of a future procurement to undertake the manufacture of the tower system mock-up. Further details of our requirement and a number of questions we would like assistance with are obtainable from the link in Section I.3). If you wish to respond to the questions, please do so by close of 31 July 2020. Please submit any response to the above questions through the http:\\.uk.eu-supply.com messaging service.