by Maria Teresa Orlando
The final component of the MITICA beam line, the calorimeter, has arrived at the Neutral Beam Test Facility, marking a major milestone towards the assembly of the world’s most powerful neutral beam injector prototype.
The calorimeter, the last major component of the MITICA beam line, has been successfully delivered to Consorzio RFX – Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF). Following its arrival in Padua, metrological inspections have begun to verify its dimensional compliance before installation.
“The completion of these measurements will mark the end of the beam line procurement phase and open the next stage of the project: the assembly of the full MITICA injector”, says Diego Marcuzzi, NBTF Project Manager.
Arrival of the calorimeter at the Neutral Beam Test Facility – Consorzio RFX
Manufactured by the AVS–Tecnalia consortium for Fusion for Energy (F4E), the calorimeter completes the injector beam line following the delivery of the neutraliser and the residual ion dump in 2024, and the ion beam source, which arrived at NBTF in mid-June 2026 after successfully completing factory acceptance tests and onsite helium leak testing. With the arrival of the calorimeter, all the injector’s major subsystems are now available at the Padua facility.
During MITICA operation, the calorimeter will play a key role in characterizing the neutral beam. Equipped with an array of diagnostic sensors, it measures the beam power, verifying that the required operating parameters are achieved before operation in ITER. During the experimental campaign, the calorimeter will also withstand extremely high thermal loads thanks to an advanced water-cooling system designed to dissipate the heat generated by the beam.
Once deployed in ITER, each Neutral Beam Injector will deliver 16.5 MW of heating power by injecting high-speed neutral particles into the plasma, making these systems unprecedented in both size and performance.
A view of the calorimeter during metrological inspections to verify its dimensional compliance before installation in MITICA
With all the major components now available onsite, the project enters a new phase. Assembly activities will progressively begin, bringing the prototype one step closer to integrated commissioning and future experimental operation in support of ITER’s Neutral Beam Injectors.