Radial plate production is launched
To fulfil the contract from the European Domestic Agency, CNIM has renovated its Brégaillon industrial site and added a brand-new 3,000 m² production hall close to the sea to facilitate the transportation of the large components. The new building is fully air-conditioned to keep equipment at a constant temperature during its final machining. A 9 x 36 m portal machining centre is ready to machine two radial plates simultaneously to a precision of several tens of microns, according to Jean-Claude Cercassi, CNIM Commercial Development Manager. Work is progressing quickly now that the first batches of raw material have been delivered. "The stainless steel segments have been machined and we are about to start with the electron beam welding," Cercassi explains, an activity made possible by the installation of a dismountable vacuum chamber.
The first radial plates are scheduled to be completed in July, when they will be transported by sea to La Spezia (Italy) to be fitted inside the ITER toroidal field coils at a facility run by ASG Superconductors. After producing a second batch five weeks later, CNIM and SIMIC Spa are expected to accelerate production to the rate of one plate every four weeks.