First toroidal magnet for the ITER Tokamak completed

27.6.2017

A total of 26 companies, including Fusion for Energy (F4E), ASG Superconductors, Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción, Elytt Energy, CNIM, SIMIC and the ICAS consortium, have completed the first of 18 toroidal field coils for the ITER Tokamak.

ITER stands for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. ITER will be a 500 MW tokamak designed to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy generation.

The European Union is covering almost half the costs of its construction, while the other six members (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA) are contributing equally to the rest.

At least 600 people have been involved in production of the coil. The huge superconducting magnets will generate the magnetic cage to contain the fusion reactor's plasma. The coil is 14 metres wide, 9 metres high and weighs 110 tonnes. Nine toroidal field coils (including a spare one) are being manufactured in Europe with the other nine being made in Japan.

The completed magnet will be tested in SIMIC. Afterwards it will be inserted into its case, welded, impregnated with resin and machined. Subsequently it will be shipped to the ITER construction site at Cadarache in France. Since 2008, F4E, as the main contractor, has signed contracts with European companies and R&D organisations worth €5 billion.

-tk-