Japanese conductor en route to the US

The first 5 of 49 superconducting conductors have been completed in Japan for the ITER central solenoid coil. The baton will now be handed to the US which is in charge of the next leg in the procurement process ... using these conductors to begin to manufacture the central solenoid.

 

The Japanese Domestic Agency for ITER is responsible for supplying 100 percent of the central solenoid conductors. The central solenoid is, literally, the centrepiece of the machine that will allow a powerful current to be induced in the ITER plasma and maintained during long plasma pulses. It will carrying a maximum electrical current of 46 kilo amperes in some modules, over 20 years of pulse operation with 60,000 cycling electromagnetic loads. Six companies in Japan are involved in the production of central solenoid conductor.

 

The first shipment of five conductors left Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan, on 25 June. The conductors are now on their way to a factory near San Diego, California where the central solenoid components will be manufactured by a US Domestic Agency contractor before the completed components are shipped to France for on-site installation.

 

Conductor production will continue in Japan though 2017, with regular shipments scheduled to the US. As the first completed ITER components shipped from Japan, the central solenoid conductor shipment was an important milestone for the Japanese contribution to ITER and a big step forward for the project.