Conductor database launched to help monitor fabrication process

"This is a clear signal that we are entering the production phase," remarked Arnaud Devred, ITER section leader for the superconducting magnets, after launching the ITER conductor database last Friday. The database will help the ITER Organization and the six Domestic Agencies involved in producing the conductors to monitor the strand/cable/jacket and conductor production. "It will also enable us to handle the thousands of control points electronically and in a time-efficient manner," Devred explained.

The conductor database is modelled after a similar database developed by CERN for monitoring conductor production at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Its architecture and specifications were developed with strong support from CERN through the CERN/ITER collaboration. Development was then taken over by the ITER IT Department. "It is a nice example of tight inter-department collaboration within the Organization," says Devred. "The principal investigator in IT is Carlo Capuano and his correspondent in Tokamak is Kazuka Seo, who has been working with us for a year through a contract with the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)." The database relies on the powerful ITER collaborative platform architecture and provides easy interface for the users, while maintaining very tight security of the data since it will include commercial information."