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

  • Image of the Week | Hard work deserves an outdoor buffet

    A start-of-summer event was held on Friday 21 June for the ITER community—an occasion to celebrate the everyday commitment of staff and contractors alike, acros [...]

    Read more

  • Poloidal field coils | Reflecting on a unique industrial achievement

    They had worked together for 10 years. And on Thursday 20 June, they gathered one last time to reflect on what they had accomplished. Director-General Pietro Ba [...]

    Read more

  • 34th ITER Council | Updated baseline presented

    Nearly 100 people met for two days last week for the 34th Meeting of the ITER Council. The meeting was an important one, as the ITER Organization and the D [...]

    Read more

  • Cryopumps | First unit reaches ITER

    The ITER vacuum team, the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy, Research Instruments (RI), and the ITER Director-General were all excited to welcome the d [...]

    Read more

  • Tritium Plant Summit | A shared vision to prepare for delivery

    A summit organized at ITER Headquarters from 3 to 6 June brought together the international teams that will deliver the sub-systems of the ITER Tritium Plant. I [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

First ITER winding pack completed in Europe

A major ITER procurement milestone was recorded in April by the European Domestic Agency, as contractors completed the first 110-tonne toroidal field winding pack. The winding pack, or D-shaped inner core, will now be cold tested at -200 °C/80 K before being inserted into a massive stainless steel case to form a final toroidal field coil assembly measuring 9 x 17 metres and weighing 310 tonnes.

A giant magnet ... and a giant step forward for ITER. Representatives from the European Domestic Agency, the ITER Organization and contractors stand inside of the first inner winding pack of an ITER toroidal field coil. (Click to view larger version...)
A giant magnet ... and a giant step forward for ITER. Representatives from the European Domestic Agency, the ITER Organization and contractors stand inside of the first inner winding pack of an ITER toroidal field coil.
Work is already underway on the assembly of a second winding pack at ASG Superconductors in La Spezia, Italy.

In ITER 18 toroidal field magnets—each made up of a winding pack and stainless steel coil case—will surround the vacuum vessel to produce the powerful magnetic field that will confine the particles of the ITER plasma. Europe has the procurement responsibility for half the coils plus one spare; Japan is producing nine coils and all stainless steel coil cases.

For Alessandro Bonito-Oliva, Europe's manager for magnets, "This is a landmark achievement for the whole project. We have been working really hard to meet the tight planning and manage all interfaces so that all pieces come together at the right time. The very good collaboration between the teams of the European Domestic Agency, the ITER Organization and the Japanese Domestic Agency has helped us to reach this point and go beyond as production accelerates."

To produce the first toroidal field winding pack, European contractors Iberdrola (Spain), ASG Superconductors (Italy), and Elytt Energy (Spain) collaborated closely with radial plate manufacturers CNIM and SIMIC. The step-by-step process included the winding of cable-in-conduit, niobium-tin-based superconductors into flat spirals called double pancakes, insertion into radial plates, impregnation with epoxy resin, and finally the stacking, jointing, wrapping, and full electrical insulation of seven double pancakes to form the final winding pack.

Europe estimates that more than 600 people from at least 26 companies have contributed to this milestone.

return to the latest published articles