China has made substantial contributions to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, said Sergio Orlandi, construction project head of the ITER Organization.
The ITER program is one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world today.
Through it, multiple nations are collaborating to build the world's largest tokamak -- a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy.
Orlandi said the program is making smooth progress thanks to China's contribution.
"ITER has made important progress in the last six years, achieving very high top level targets. Because all the plant outside of the tokamak building has been completed. So I can say that the electrical power distribution, the coil power supply with the big contribution coming from China in the building territory as well as the component cooling water system have been completed, commissioned and the majority of them are in operation," he said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Built in southern France by the seven ITER members, China, the EU, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States, the facilities will form the world's largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment device and the largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor.
China officially joined the ITER program in 2006 as its seventh member. According to the agreement, China is responsible for about 9 percent of the project's construction and operation.
Orlandi lauded the work ethic of Chinese engineers, which he has had the opportunity to observe over the past decades.
"I have been working in China since 1988. I have learned a lot. The mentality that I have had from China to be capable to assure quality on time and on cost. And this mentality makes the difference in any project. I've seen the capacity they have. I've seen how they work because for sure if you come in ITER you see building 33 is totally power converters produced by China. They are completed. They are installed," he said.
Head of int'l fusion energy project acclaims China's contribution
