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Specialized tooling

Handling a giant component (with video)

10 Mar 2025

Sector #8 has been transferred temporarily to the tokamak pit. The operation, which took place on 4 March, went smoothly.

Vacuum vessel sector is temporarily occupying one of the bays reserved for sector modules in the tokamak pit. It will be removed later this month and returned to the Cryostat Workshop for ongoing repairs.

The transfer operation has been in planning for months, part of the unique logistics challenges involved with repairing sector #8 in a horizontal position. On Tuesday 4 March, the 440-tonne sector was successfully lowered into the pit, where it will be stored for approximately two weeks while the upending tool is reconfigured for its return.

Sector #8 was delivered to the Assembly Hall and installed on the upending tool in the position it was repaired in—that is, with the repaired side facing the ceiling (let's call it side A).

When it returns to the upending tool, it will have been rotated by the overhead cranes—specifically the dual crane heavy lifting beam that allows the cranes to work in tandem and facilitates the rotation of components. Side B will face the ceiling, and the sector can be returned to the Cryostat Workshop for the second phase of repair.

In between these two operations, sector #8 will be stored temporarily in the pit. This teams need this time to adapt the interfacing components of the upending tool for the return of the sector. Side A and side B of the sector are not identical, and adjustments need to be made.

The transfer of a massive component in the Assembly Hall is always a spectacular operation. See the transfer of sector #8 to the pit in the video below.

 

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