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 | The platform's quasi-final appearance

    Since preparation work began in 2007 on the stretch of land that was to host the 42-hectare ITER platform, regular photographic surveys have been organized to d [...]

    Read more

  • Cryopumps | Preparing for the cold tests

    Before being delivered to ITER, the torus and cryostat cryopumps are submitted to a  comprehensive series of factory acceptance tests. This is not sufficie [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion technologies | Closing a fusion schism

    Historically, inertial confinement and magnetic confinement approaches to fusion have been parallel, separate processes. The ITER Private Sector Fusion Workshop [...]

    Read more

  • Toroidal field coil celebration | "A good day for the world"

    A little before 2:00 a.m. on 17 April 2020 a powerful transport trailer, accompanied by dozens of technical and security vehicles, passed the gates of the I [...]

    Read more

  • Press conference | New baseline to prioritize robust start to exploitation

    At a press conference on 3 July attended by approximately 200 journalists and key ITER stakeholders, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi answered questions [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Manufacturing

Thermal shield milestone in Korea

Six years after the start of fabrication, Korean contractor SFA has completed the last 40° sector of vacuum vessel thermal shield. The stainless steel panels, covered with a 5- to 10-micrometre-thick layer of silver, are packed and ready for shipment.

The 12-metre-tall thermal shield component for vacuum vessel sector #2 has passed all factory acceptance tests. (Click to view larger version...)
The 12-metre-tall thermal shield component for vacuum vessel sector #2 has passed all factory acceptance tests.
Between the vacuum vessel and the magnets, the vacuum vessel thermal shield will block thermal loads from being transferred from warm components to the superconducting coils and structures that operate at 4.5K. Assembled from many joined panels, with piping for the active circulation of cooling gas (helium gas at 80-100 K), each 40° thermal shield sector will fit one vacuum vessel sector like a glove. A second layer of thermal shield (the cryostat thermal shield) will be installed between the magnets and the cryostat.

Korean contractor SFA has manufactured the thermal shield panels for all nine vacuum vessel sectors. In this view of sector #2 panels, cooling tubes are visible on the component's silver-coated surface. (Click to view larger version...)
Korean contractor SFA has manufactured the thermal shield panels for all nine vacuum vessel sectors. In this view of sector #2 panels, cooling tubes are visible on the component's silver-coated surface.
Both layers must be made "opaque" to thermal radiation. This is achieved by coating all thermal shield surfaces with a material that radiates as little heat is as possible—silver.

After plate cutting, bending and forming, welding, final machining, and pre-assembly of the thermal shield, contractors placed the components in a silver bath where, by way of electroplating, a 5- to 10-micrometre-thick layer is deposited. The mass of silver coating on the thermal shield panels is estimated at just under 800 kg total (for a total surface of nearly 2,000 m²). 

The panels of thermal shielding for vacuum vessel sector #2 were the last to be completed. After successful factory acceptance tests, they have been packed for shipment.
Packed and ready for shipment. These thermal shield panels will join others already received at ITER, including those for vacuum vessel sector #6, which will be the first to be installed using the sector sub-assembly tooling in the Assembly Hall. (Click to view larger version...)
Packed and ready for shipment. These thermal shield panels will join others already received at ITER, including those for vacuum vessel sector #6, which will be the first to be installed using the sector sub-assembly tooling in the Assembly Hall.

return to the latest published articles