Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Poloidal field magnets | The last ring

    As the massive ring-shaped coil inched its way from the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, where it was manufactured, to the storage facility nearby where i [...]

    Read more

  • Heat rejection | White "smoke" brings good news

    Like a plume of white smoke rising from a cardinals' conclave to announce the election of a new pope, the tenuous vapour coming from one of the ITER cooling cel [...]

    Read more

  • WEC 2024 | Energy on centre stage

    The global players in the energy sector convened in Rotterdam last week for the 26th edition of the World Energy Congress (WEC). The venue was well chosen, wit [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | The EU blueprint for fusion energy

    The EU Blueprint for Fusion Energy workshop, convened by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, brought together key stakeholders in the fiel [...]

    Read more

  • Neutral beam injection | ELISE achieves target values for ITER

    Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching, Germany, have generated the ion current densities required for ITER neutral beam injecti [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Assembly tools

A first glimpse at the colossus

Imagine a 600-tonne umbrella, with a central shaft more than 4 metres in diameter and ribs as thick as the girders of a travelling crane—this is what the central column and the nine radial beams of the in-pit assembly tool will look like once they are installed inside the Tokamak pit.

Close to 6 metres tall and weighing approximately 70 tonnes, the first segment, the bottom cylinder, is the largest and heaviest of the column's five sections. Similar to the others, it is a hollow, rib-reinforced structure equipped with a series of interior ladders, traps and staging. (Click to view larger version...)
Close to 6 metres tall and weighing approximately 70 tonnes, the first segment, the bottom cylinder, is the largest and heaviest of the column's five sections. Similar to the others, it is a hollow, rib-reinforced structure equipped with a series of interior ladders, traps and staging.
Designed for a nominal load of 5,400 tonnes, the temporary tool will support, align, and stabilize the vacuum vessel sub-assemblies as they are joined and welded. In just a few weeks, after the installation of the first poloidal field coil, the first central column segment will be lifted into the assembly pit and anchored to the basemat.

Designed for a nominal load of 5,400 tonnes, the temporary tool (central column and radial beams) will support, align, and stabilize the vacuum vessel sub-assemblies as they are joined and welded. (Click to view larger version...)
Designed for a nominal load of 5,400 tonnes, the temporary tool (central column and radial beams) will support, align, and stabilize the vacuum vessel sub-assemblies as they are joined and welded.
The bottom cylinder will be installed once poloidal field coil #6 has been lowered to rest on its temporary supports. Depending on the other activities in both the Assembly Hall and the assembly pit, the other sections will be lifted one by one or by pairs, extending the installation operations well into the summer.

As for the radial beams, they will arrive in the pit supporting each vertical vacuum vessel sub-assembly as it travels by overhead crane. Once installed, the beams (and their loads) are supported between the central column and the concrete bioshield.

In addition to its weight-bearing role, the colossus at the centre of the pit will provide a physical manifestation of the machine axis, prior to the welding of the pre-assemblies. Equipped with a number of fiducial targets, the central column will allow for the ultra-precise positioning and alignment of the toroidal field coils. Fiducial targets on the radial beams will fulfil the same role for the vacuum vessel sectors.

return to the latest published articles