Spain's IFMIF‑DONES accelerator to get AI‑driven digital maintenance system

A consortium of about ten companies and research institutions is developing Optima‑DONES, a digital‑twin and artificial‑intelligence platform that will act as the "brain" for maintaining the IFMIF‑DONES particle accelerator being built in Escúzar, Granada. The 700‑million‑euro facility, crucial for future fusion‑energy research, will be supported by an AI‑assisted "operator 5.0" who can be a human specialist or a robot, with the system predicting failures, assessing radiation doses and directing maintenance actions.

Project lead and University of Granada professor Juan Chiachio‑Ruano explained that the aim is to "anticipate faults and maintenance needs and generate support for the operator, a 5.0 operator, assisted by artificial intelligence that helps decide what to do, how and when." The digital twin will model the highly radioactive accelerator, allowing the AI to evaluate equipment status and allocate tasks to humans or robotic arms, thereby minimizing risk and ensuring continuous operation.