Main buildings
Under, over and beside the Tokamak
17 Dec 2018
In the immediate vicinity of the machine—in the deep vaults of the Tokamak Complex or under the high rafters of the Assembly Building—construction teams are preparing for 2019 assembly-related activities. Whether it is receiving and handling the first major components or beginning to install the first structural supports for system components in the concrete buildings, the coming year will mark the transition on site between a heavy focus on construction, to the management of construction and machine and plant system assembly activities in parallel.
Now painted in white, the lowest basement level of the Diagnostic Building is ready for handover to contractors for the beginning of systems installation. Embedded plates—for the attachment of system supports—are visible on all surfaces.
Under the financial and oversight responsibility of the European Domestic Agency civil construction works on site are progressing, and are soon to pass the 70 percent completion mark.
As buildings are completed, the ITER Organization has the overall responsibility for the integration and assembly of components delivered to the ITER site by the seven Domestic Agencies. The actual work of the assembly phase will be carried out primarily by ITER Organization contractors (or, for some plant assembly works, by Domestic Agency contractors). Work will be tendered out in nine main contracts.
In the build-up to full-scale assembly, which begins with overhead crane access to the Tokamak Building in March 2020, components are arriving on site with increasing frequency. In 2019 a number of major arrivals are planned, including the first toroidal field coil, the first vacuum vessel sector, assembly tooling, and the first thermal shield segments. Installation activities will start in the lower levels of the Tokamak Complex while in the Assembly Hall, the first specialized assembly tools will be moving into action.
See more detail in the gallery below.
The Tokamak Building, seen rising alongside the metal-clad Assembly Hall. On the other side of this north-facing wall is the circular well where the machine will be assembled. European contractors are working to close up the building over the Tokamak Pit in time for heavy assembly works to begin in March 2020.
Standing now on the tall north-facing wall of the Tokamak Building, the ITER photographer is able to capture all of the activities going on around the machine well at L3 level. The space in these outlying galleries will be completely filled with equipment and systems.
In the Assembly Hall, the second sector sub-assembly tool (SSAT) is rising. The double giants will be capable of steadying 440-tonne vacuum vessel sectors vertically, while two toroidal field magnets (310 tonnes each) and thermal shield segments are rotated inward and secured. Load testing begins next year.
Sturdy wings
Precision hydraulics will drive the lateral wings of the SSAT tools, which rotate to deliver the toroidal field coils to their installation fixtures on the vacuum vessel sector. In order to support the weight of the massive components that will be suspended on its frame, each tool weighs an incredible 800 tonnes.
At the bottom of the machine assembly pit, the first metal component has been inserted into its bay. Metrologists are recording its "as-installed" position, as this component will be assembled with two other sub-assemblies to form the full magnet feeder for poloidal field coil #4. Thirty-one feeders in all will deliver electricity, cryogens and instruments to the ITER magnets.
Adjacent galleries
Outside of the bioshield, nine-metre galleries called port cells will accommodate heating pipes, electricity cables, diagnostic lines and maintenance systems as they pass through to the vacuum vessel from outlying chambers. Parked momentarily in this gallery is the tool for mounting heavy port cell doors on the far end of the galleries.
Industrial climbers scale the side of the Assembly Hall to attach a ventilation louver for the building's HVAC system. The building has an industrial-scale heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to regulate atmospheric conditions (temperature, humidity) and air quality.
This 60-tonne nuclear door was set into place in November—the first of 46 to be installed at the openings of port cells leading to the Tokamak. All went well, as the dedicated mounting tool successfully transferred the weight of the door to the heavy duty hinges.
A remote-controlled camera positioned above helped operators to align the door with its hinges exactly. Representatives of the ITER Organization, the European consortium VFR, and sub-contractor Cegelec/Sommer were all present for this first door installation operation.