The CDTI, a body under the Ministry of Science and Innovation, will initiate a Public Procurement of Innovation process aimed at responding to the technological needs of the IFMIF-DONES Spain Consortium.

This is stated in the “Report on the conclusions of the Preliminary Market Consultation in the field of validation of fusion energy systems and materials”, published by the CDTI on 2 June.

Currently, the IFMIF-DONES España Consortium’s technical team and CDTI’s Innovative Public Procurement team are already working together on the technical and administrative specifications that will be part of this tender which, if awarded in 2023. The resulting contracts would have to be executed in 2024 and 2025.

On 23 December, the Preliminary Market Consultation (PMC) was published to determine the degree of development of technology and materials in high-intensity hadron accelerators and experimental target systems and irradiation test areas using integrated technology validators.

The objective of this CPM, whose deadline for receipt of proposals was 24 February, was to promote the participation of economic operators active in the market with the presentation of innovative proposals aimed at responding to the needs of the IFMIF-DONES Consortium concerning two technological challenges:

– CHALLENGE 1: Accelerator Systems Integrated Technology Validator (DONES VATIAC).

– CHALLENGE 2: Integrated Technology Validator of Target and Test Systems (DONES VATIST).

The proposals have been reviewed and analysed by a technical group composed of representatives of the CDTI and the IFMIF-DONES España Consortium.

According to the results obtained, proposals have been received that would total, for both challenges, between 30 and 50 million euros.

As proposed in the evaluated proposals, these validators (VATIAC and VATIST) will have a high degree of innovation with respect to the state of the art.

The high number of proposals received demonstrates the interest and capacity of the market to develop the proposed validators.