Quench tanks unloaded at Fos harbour
14 Nov 2016
Thirty-five metres long, five metres wide and five metres high, the two quench tanks that were unloaded last week at Fos harbour range among the largest components ever delivered to ITER.
Unloading operations began on 7 November at Fos. The twin tanks have been moved to temporary storage until their three-night journey to the ITER site (the convoy is expected in the early hours of Monday 24 November). © Emmanuel Bonici
Manufactured in the Czech Republic under contract with Air Liquide (the European Domestic Agency's supplier for the ITER liquid nitrogen plant and auxiliary systems), the twin tanks will be part of the ITER cryoplant. In case of a "quench"—the sudden loss of coil superconductivity—they will collect and store the helium that is expelled from the tokamak's magnetic system.
The tanks will leave Fos in the coming days and be ferried one at a time across the inland sea Etang de Berre by specially designed barge. They will travel along the ITER Itinerary as one convoy over three nights and are expected to reach the ITER site in the early hours of Thursday 24 November.