twA visit to Mitsubishi's Futami plant
9 Jul 2013
Here, in Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's Futami facility, the first toroidal field coil will be wound and integrated. Pictured: participants to Unique ITER Team activities in Japan in June.
Of the 19 toroidal field coils that will be produced for ITER (18 for Tokamak assembly, plus one spare), 9 will be procured by Japan.
The Japanese Domestic Agency has contracted with four major Japanese and Korean companies—Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Japan (main contractor, coil case manufacturer #1); Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan (winding pack manufacturer #1); Toshiba, Japan (winding pack manufacturer #2); and finally Hyundai Heavy Industry, Korea (coil case manufacturer #2 ).
Two weeks ago, participants to the Unique ITER Team (UIT) activities that followed the Twelfth ITER Council in Japan (19-20 June) had the opportunity to visit Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's Futami facility near Kobe, where the first toroidal field coil will be wound and integrated.
Installation of the winding equipment at the Futami facility should be completed in September, allowing for dummy winding to proceed until the end of the year. Double pancake dummy winding should begin in early 2014.
The visit of the winding workshop and a discussion on the schedule presented by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry left the ITER guests with "a strong feeling of confidence," says Head of ITER Organization-Domestic Agency Coordination Songtao Wu.