New cryostat manufacturing milestone

They all gathered—members of the ITER-India team and contractor Larsen & Toubro—to mark a portentous moment: the start of manufacturing on the upper cylinder of the ITER cryostat.

In a dedicated workshop at ITER, work is already underway to weld the segments of the cryostat base, which were delivered by the Indian Domestic Agency in late 2015 and early 2016.

Just last month, the segments making up the first half (tier 1) of the cryostat lower cylinder were transported to the ITER site. (Manufacturing on the tier-2 segments is underway at Larsen & Toubro's Hazira plant.)

Now, work on the third main section has started, with the welding of first upper cylinder T-ribs. The ITER cryostat will be assembled from four large sections—the base (1,250 tonnes), the lower cylinder (375 tonnes), the upper cylinder (430 tonnes), and the top lid (665 tonnes).

Just over 28 metres in diameter, the upper cylinder is designed to connect to the top lid of the cryostat on one side, and the lower cylinder on the other. The steel cylinder will be 8.6 metres high when fully assembled, with 50-millimetre-thick walls and 18 rectangular ports. The cylinder is reinforced by toroidal and vertical stiffening ribs on the inner side.

The traditional coconut breaking ceremony in March was attended by the head of the Indian Domestic Agency, Shishir Deshpande, and the Vice President of Larsen & Toubro's Process Plant & Nuclear Business Group, Anil Parab.