Overhead cranes running the length of the Assembly and Tokamak buildings will operate like a pair of safe hands to move the heavy components to the Tokamak Pit and position them during assembly. Photo: GTM Bâtiment VINCI
On the completed Assembly Building basemat the footprints of three large assembly tools are visible. Here anchor plates will provide the interface between the tools and the concrete basemat.
Basemat done, spaces remain for the anchoring of large tools
On the completed Assembly Building basemat, three segments (or box-outs) remain unpoured. The largest assembly tools will be anchored here; some interfaces between the anchor plates and the tooling remain to be defined. Photo: F4E
Spaces are maintained between the different segments of the basemat to accommodate the tracks of a small ITER "railroad." The four large cryostat segments--cylinders measuring 30 metres in diameter—will travel from the Cryostat Workshop to the Assembly Building by rail.
The heart of construction activity will take place here in the next years: the Tokamak Complex and Assembly Building. Both structures will rise above the tallest cranes to reach 60 metres. Photo: F4E
The basemat of the Assembly Building is nearly finished. Beginning next year, work will begin on the metal frame of the 60-metre-tall building, which will house two overhead cranes capable, together, of manipulating loads up to 1,500 tons. Photo: F4E/Engage
From the top of the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, the progression of the Assembly Building slab is evident: the last segment will be poured in May 2013. On the left, the first crane is positioned for foundation work in the Seismic Pit. Photo: F4E
Each concrete plot is poured in two segments with a joint between them that will be filled in once the concrete is dry. This technique avoids cracking.
Concrete pouring for the Assembly Building will be completed by the time pouring begins for the adjacent Tokamak Complex in spring 2013. The rebar has been tailored to meet the building's complex system of galleries and penetrations. Photo: F4E
Fourteen hundred tons of steel are now distributed in an area measuring 60 x 100 metres. The building's foundation will have a thickness of 1.2‒2.2 metres. Photo: F4E
The basemat for the Assembly Building will be finished in March. The anchor plates for 4 large assembly tools will be cemented into the concrete. Photo: F4E
The concrete poured for the Assembly Building is of the finished variety: the finished product will be the actual floor of the tall workshop. Photo: F4E
The foundation for the 60 metre-tall building ranges in thickness from 1.2‒2.2 metres. In between the metal rebar cages, space has been reserved for the electrical galleries, drainage, piping and tunnels that will service the neighbouring Tokamak Complex. Photo: F4E
The Tokamak Complex and the Assembly Building will form a "T" in the middle of the platform (with the Assembly Building in the supporting role). Photo: F4E
The five poloidal field magnets that will be fabricated in the on-site Winding Facility (in red) won't have far to travel to the Assembly and Tokamak buildings. Photo: F4E
The foundation slab will vary in thickness from 1.2-2.2 metres. Parts of the foundation will support the embedded anchor plates of the building's large and heavy custom assembly tools. Photo: F4E
The 5,400 square-metre area of the Assembly Building is covered with a layer of blinding concrete, to prepare for the reinforcement activities to come.
An excavator is at work on an 7x8 metre gallery that will serve as an entry point for most of the electrical cables for the assembly tools and devices.
With all of the digging operations for the Assembly Building foundations, the deep underground drainage networks and the establishment of Contractors' Area #2, the tour buses on the site these days are limited to the periphery.
The Assembly Building will occupy an area of 6,000 m² to the south of the Tokamak Complex. The vast hall will house the specialized tooling that will accomplish pre-assembly activities for the Tokamak components.
From 2015 forward, the doors to the Assembly Building (foreground) will regularly open to admit Tokamak components for pre-assembly. From there, it is only a short distance to the machine pit. Image: ITER Organization
60 x 97 x 60 metres: the vast antechamber to the Tokamak Building will be equipped with specialized pre-assembly tooling and mammoth overhead cranes for manoeuvring the heavy components. Image: ITER Organization
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