A second, more versatile upending tool on its way
Two days ago, an extra upending tool—which ITER recently ordered from Korea to speed up operations related to vacuum vessel sector repair and sector module assembly—began its month-long journey to ITER. The more than 100-tonne structure, manufactured under tight time constraints by Yujin Mechatronics, is more versatile than the one that has been in use at ITER for the past five years.
Its configuration will facilitate the “flipping” of the vacuum vessel sectors being repaired in a horizontal position to allow access to their second side.
With two upending tools available, one specializing in the handling of toroidal field coils and the newest in vacuum vessel sectors, the need for regular tool reconfiguration will be avoided which could amount to time savings in the range of weeks in the assembly process schedule. Another massive benefit: the transfer and temporary “parking” of a vacuum vessel sector in the tokamak assembly pit, initially envisaged for sector 8, is not needed anymore.
The upending tool and its vacuum-vessel-dedicated lifting frames are expected at Fos-sur-Mer harbour in mid-March and could be operational, after mounting the two halves of the tool together, from mid-April.