A major ITER procurement milestone was recently recorded by the European Domestic Agency, as contractors completed the first 110s-ton toroidal field winding pack. The winding pack, or D-shaped inner core, will now be cold tested at -200 °C/80 K before being inserted into a massive stainless steel case to form a final toroidal field coil assembly measuring 9 x 17 metres and weighing 310 tons.
In ITER 18 toroidal field magnets—each made up of a winding pack and stainless steel coil case—will surround the vacuum vessel to produce the powerful magnetic field that will confine the particles of the ITER plasma. Europe has the procurement responsibility for half the coils plus one spare; Japan is producing nine coils and all stainless steel coil cases.
Alessandro Bonito-Oliva, Europe’s manager for magnets, said “This is a landmark achievement for the whole project. We have been working really hard to meet the tight planning and manage all interfaces so that all pieces come together at the right time. The very good collaboration between the teams of the European Domestic Agency, the ITER Organization and the Japanese Domestic Agency has helped us to reach this point and go beyond as production accelerates.”
