Cryostat
A true sense of size
16 Oct 2017
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R.A.
Just like a thermos provides the insulation to keep your coffee warm—or your water cold—the ITER cryostat raises a barrier around the superconducting magnets that limits the possibility of heat exchange with the outside environment.
In the Cryostat Workshop on site, two sections of the cryostat are now in assembly in tandem. Here, the team stands inside the ring of the lower cylinder, tier one (30 metres in diameter). An initial pass of the welding tools has all segments now joined; the second tier segments—en route now from India—will top the first, creating a 10-metre-high structure.
Where coffee is concerned, the temperature gradient is small—even on a cold day, the beverage inside the thermos is only a few dozen degrees hotter (or colder) than the air outside. In ITER, the gradient is huge: with superconducting magnets cooled to a few degrees above absolute zero, the difference with the outside environment is in the range of 270 degrees Celsius.
Vacuum (an almost perfect insulator) is used in both a thermos and the ITER cryostat to provide insulation. In the first case, vacuum is sandwiched between the two "walls" of the container; in the second, the vessel itself—a ten-storey structure with a volume of 8,500 m³—is the vacuum chamber.
Part of the procurement responsibilities of India, the cryostat is being manufactured in 54 segments by Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro and shipped to the ITER Cryostat Workshop for assembly.
Over the past year and a half, we have seen the cryostat base take shape; now, work is underway simultaneously on the next section—the lower cylinder. Side by side, these components-in-progress give a true sense of the awesome size of the cryostat.
More on cryostat manufacturing here.
The six segments of the cryostat base, tier two, have been removed from storage and positioned on pillars above tier one for alignment and welding. The completed cryostat base will create the heaviest single component of the ITER machine ... and one that the Assembly Hall cranes have been sized for.
A massive pedestal for a massive machine
When machine assembly is completed, it won't be a worker sitting here, but the Tokamak itself. These pedestal rings (part of tier two of the cryostat base) will support over 20,000 tonnes of dead weight, including the cryostat, vacuum vessel and magnets. Pictured here, a technician from Larsen & Toubro contractor MAN is taking precise measurements to align the segments of the base section (tier two).
Lower cylinder: waiting for tier two
The lower cylinder will weigh 490 tonnes and measure 10 metres in height when tier two is added to tier one. Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro is responsible for the manufacturing design, fabrication and assembly of the ITER cryostat.
Act II for the cryostat base
Welding on the first part of the cryostat base (seen here wrapped in purple) has been successfully completed. Seen directly above, from the inside, is the rim of the six tier two segments that have been carefully aligned.