General Atomics Welcomes Delegation from French Senate
- Senators tour fusion facility and learn about GA’s advanced nuclear technologies
San Diego, CA, September 12. A delegation composed of members of the French Senate and representatives from the French Consulate in Los Angeles recently toured the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, which is operated by General Atomics (GA) for the US Department of Energy Office of Science, according to a General Atomics statement.
During the September 6 visit, which was arranged and hosted by Dr. Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of the General Atomics Global Corporation, the delegation observed a fusion experiment and learned about GA’s initiatives in fusion and advanced nuclear energy. GA is heavily involved in the ITER project, currently being carried out in France. ITER is an international collaboration of 35 nations that will prove the feasibility of fusion as a means of producing virtually limitless clean, safe, and sustainable energy.
“General Atomics has had a longstanding strong strategic partnership with France in the energy and defense sectors including unmanned aircraft,” saidDr. Lall. “We look forward to continue growing the depth and breadth of our relationship in the various domains furthering our mutual national security interests.”
“France is thrilled to be working with such a pioneering company in the energy sector. We are looking forward to seeing the development of fusion energy and we commend GA for its key contribution to the ITER project.” said Sophie Primas, President of the Economic Affairs Committee of the French Senate.
“It was a great pleasure to welcome the Senators to the DIII-D Facility hosted here at General Atomics,” said Dr. Wayne Solomon, Vice President of Magnetic Fusion Energy. “We enjoyed discussing our plans to bring fusion power to the electrical grid through our efforts in developing a fusion pilot plant.”
DIII-D is the largest magnetic fusion research user facility in the United States. The heart of the facility is a tokamak that uses powerful electromagnets to produce a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) magnetic bottle for confining a fusion plasma. GA has been a leader in fusion research since the 1950s.
The delegation also learned about GA’s activities in developing advanced nuclear technologies and materials, both for nuclear energy and emerging applications for nuclear space propulsion. GA-Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) is developing advanced materials for the DOE’s Accident Tolerant Fuel program, advanced reactors, and additional high temperature/harsh environment applications.
“We were very pleased to have an opportunity to discuss how GA’s advanced nuclear power technologies and materials, including our 50 MWe Fast Modular Reactor, and our close collaboration with Framatome, are working to secure the future of safe, distributed clean power generation by the mid-2030s,” said Dr. Ron Faibish, Senior Director of Business Development with GA-EMS.
