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Component delivery

1st European vacuum vessel sector has arrived

29 Oct 2024

Of the nine vacuum vessel sectors that will form the ITER tokamak’s toroidal plasma chamber, four are procured by Korea and five by Europe. Over the past four years, three Korean sectors have been delivered, and the fourth one is expected in a little more than one week. On Friday 25 October, the first European sector—vacuum vessel sector #5, manufactured in Italy—passed the gates of the ITER site.

On the last leg of the component’s journey from Italy, the transport trailer passes through the village of Peyrolles-en-Provence, located 20 kilometres west of ITER.

In Korea, a single contractor, Hyundai Heavy Industries, is responsible for the manufacturing process for Korean sectors in the world’s largest shipyard located in Ulsan, on the east coast of the peninsula. In Europe, the choice was made to distribute the fabrication of the component between different companies mainly located in Italy, but also in Spain and Germany—all operating within the AMW consortium (Ansaldo Nucleare, Westinghouse/Mangiarotti, Walter Tosto and subcontractors).

The trailer negotiates a difficult 90-degree turn at the exit of a steel bridge spanning the canal that feeds a local power plant. The bridge was built in 2009 to accommodate the ultra-heavy ITER convoys.

Whatever the organizational choices, the manufacturing process and the end product are similar. An ITER vacuum vessel sector is among the most imposing of all machine components. At close to 20 metres tall and weighing approximately 440 tonnes (600 tonnes when you count its cabin-like housing and frame), it is an exceptionally delicate load to transport.

In the wee hours of Friday 25 October, vacuum vessel #5 reaches the ITER site. To the right of the parked trailer is the cocooned upper section of the ITER cryostat. (Photo DAHER)

There are now four vacuum vessel sectors on site, and there will be five by early November 2024. One (sector #7) has re-entered the module assembly process in one of the tall standing tools in the Assembly Hall. Two others are in various stages of repair—sector #6 in the second tool and sector #8 in the former Cryostat Workshop (read article in this issue).

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