In the vast hall of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, a 10-ton divertor cassette mockup has just been successfully inserted into a replica of the ITER vacuum vessel ... just as delicately as a model ship gets inserted inside a bottle.
During tokamak assembly, the nine sectors of the vacuum vessel will be installed and welded together before the installation of the divertor cassettes can begin. That leaves only three relatively narrow (and blind) passageways into the vacuum vessel for divertor installation.
The operation underway in the vast hall of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is the last in a series of demonstrations that were initiated four years ago. "The last and the most delicate," emphasizes Mario Merola, ITER Internal Components Division head. "We are simulating the installation of one of the three central cassettes that will close the circular arrangement of the divertor assembly.
Hannu, his joystick and his screens are sitting only a few metres from activity on the mockup. But they could just as well be separated by millions of kilometres of space or thousands of leagues of ocean depth.
Hannu, his joystick and his screens are sitting only a few metres from activity on the mockup. But they could just as well be separated by millions of kilometres of space or thousands of leagues of ocean depth. "This has been one of the biggest challenges of the operation: working with pure models without any visual connexion," says VTT Executive Vice-President Jouko Suokas. "But it has been an excellent platform to increase our competency in virtual reality and control software. This expertise is now being transferred to industry, which was one of the key reasons for our involvement in this project."