ITER components take their maiden voyage

The first copper and superconducting conductor unit lengths produced under a toroidal field conductor Procurement Arrangement took to the sea last month in Japan.

The three large components were manufactured by Nippon Steel Engineering at the Wakamatsu ITER factory, in the southernmost Japanese island of Kyushu. They are the first components produced under a Procurement Arrangement signed with Japan in November 2007. The copper dummy conductors are respectively 100 and 760 metres long; the niobium-tin superconductor is 415 metres long.

Loaded aboard a chartered cargo boat, the components left the Nippon Steel facility on 16 March, crossed though Seto Inland Sea and into the Pacific Ocean, and arrived at Yokohama on 19 March.

There, they will remain in storage in a Toshiba Corporation facility until receiving hold point clearance from the ITER Organization.

Once the acceptance procedure is complete, trial winding will be performed on toroidal field coil mockups at the Toshiba facility. JAEA and the ITER Organization will supervise these operations that are part of "Phase II activity" as defined in the toroidal field coil Procurement Arrangements.