Cryostat Workshop
The Cryostat Workshop was built by the Indian Domestic Agency for the assembly and welding of four ITER cryostat sections (2016-2022). The Workshop now houses assembly-related activities.
In the northeast corner of the ITER platform, the 6,000-square-metre Cryostat Workshop was built to house the assembly of the four main cryostat sections from 54 smaller segments manufactured in India.
The cryostat is the vacuum-tight container that will surround the ITER vacuum vessel and superconducting magnets. The base section of the cryostat was the first large component installed in the Tokamak Pit; the top lid of the cryostat will be the last, set into place after the installation of the vacuum vessel and magnets.
Like the largest poloidal field coils, the size and weight of the main cryostat segments made travel along the ITER Itinerary impossible. The cryostat base section—1,250 tonnes—is the single largest load of ITER Tokamak assembly; the lower cylinder, upper cylinder and top lid weigh in the range of 600-800 tonnes each. Once welded together, the cryostat will measure nearly 30 metres in diameter and as many in height. Two sections of the cryostat have already been installed in the Tokamak pit—the base and lower cylinder—and welded together. The upper two sections are currently stored on the ITER platform under protective wrapping.
Assembly operations in the Cryostat Workshop took place on two 30 x 30 metre platforms that also acted as transport platforms as the sections left the building powered by self-propelled modular transporters.
Since the completion of cryostat section assembly in 2022, the building has been repurposed as a machine assembly workshop.
See this page to learn all about cryostat assembly.
Cryostat Workshop facts:
- Construction: June 2013-November 2014
- Length: 110 metres
- Width: 50 metres
- Height: 27 metres
- Cryostat section assembly: 2016-2022
Photo gallery
Cryostat Workshop inauguration
2014-11-21 - On Friday 21 November 2014, the on-site Cryostat Workshop is inaugurated in the presence of members of the press. Left to right: Benoît Moncade, director-general of building contractor Spie-Batignolles; Predhiman Krishan Kaw, member of the Indian delegation to the ITER Council; M.V. Kotwal, the president of Larsen & Toubro's Heavy Engineering Division (responsible for the fabrication of the ITER cryostat); and ITER Director-General Osamu Motojima. Follow all fabrication news at: /construction/sitefabricationcryostat
On-site assembly of four large cryostat sections
2014-11-18 - Within the on-site workshop, cryostat assembly activities will take place on two huge steel platforms built to support the weight of the components, jigs and fixtures.
On the other side
2014-11-18 - It's not often that we get to see around the back of the building ...
A peek inside
2014-11-18 - The interior of the completed Cryostat Workshop photographed in November 2014.
Signed, sealed, delivered
2014-08-21 - The complete Cryostat Workshop, seen from the foundations of the Assembly Building.
Construction is over
2014-04-29 - From above, the completed Cryostat Workshop (in grey) stands alongside the manufacturing facility for the poloidal field coils (in red). Work ended on the facility in April 2014 after approximately 18 months of construction. Photo: © LESENECHAL/PPV-AIX.COM
Having a look at progress
2014-04-25 - The metallic super-structure is finished; the gantry crane is in place. A small delegation from the ITER Organization and the Indian Domestic Agency (which is responsible for cryostat fabrication and assembly) notes the progress accomplished on the Cryostat Workshop since building works began in June 2013.
Early morning Cryostat Workshop
2014-04-08 - Taken before 7:00 a.m., the completed Cryostat Workshop glows silver as the day rises. The 18-metre-tall gantry crane is now in place on the inside.
The exit doors
2014-03-19 - After assembly, the large sections of the cryostat will leave the Workshop through the large door on the west facade for transportation to the Tokamak Pit.
Equipping the interior
2014-02-12 - On 12 February 2014, nine months after construction began on ITER's on-site Cryostat Workshop, the first elements of the workshop's gantry crane were delivered to the ITER site.
Completing the Cryostat Workshop cladding
2014-02-03 - Against the backdrop of the snowy pre-Alps, workers on the roof of the Cryostat Workshop in February position large pieces of aluminum cladding.
Four large segments
2014-01-28 - The four ITER cryostat segments—with a diameter of 30 metres each—will leave the facility by the great door on the left to be positioned in the Tokamak Building.
Assembling a giant component
2014-01-15 - The vacuum container that will surround the tokamak and the magnets (the ITER cryostat) will be approximately 30 metres tall and 30 metres wide. Four large segments will be assembled in this on-site workshop.
2014-01-15 - The Cryostat Workshop (left) takes its place next to the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility as the second structure on the ITER platform. A total of 39 buildings or technical areas are planned in all.
The platform is changing
2014-01-07 - As cladding progressively covers the metallic structure of the Cryostat Workshop, it becomes one of the most visible features of the ITER platform.
Inside of the Cryostat Workshop
2013-12-12 - In this schematic, we get a look inside the Cryostat Workshop where a goliath crane will run the length of the building between the two assembly areas. Four completed components, weighing from 600-1,250 tonnes, will leave the facility by the western door.
Cladding underway
2013-12-11 - Cladding works continue on the structure of the Cryostat Workshop as 2013 draws to a close.
December 2013
2013-12-11 - South-facing cladding is complete.
The best lookout point
2013-12-11 - As the ITER site becomes more and more congested, the best lookout point will soon be the top of the Cryostat Workshop!
Work progressing well
2013-11-29 - Approximately 25 people are currently working on the site of the Cryostat Workshop and works are progressing as scheduled.
In a straight line
2013-11-29 - Segments of the cryostat will leave the Workshop and be transported in a straight line directly into the Assembly Building, whose foundation slab is visible through the beams.
Tallest building yet
2013-11-29 - The Cryostat Workshop is nine metres taller than its closest neighbour—the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility.
Parallel assembly activities
2013-11-29 - The cryostat segments will be needed in two waves—first the two lower segments, and then approximately two years later the two upper segments. Two assembly platforms will permit parallel assembly activities in the Cryostat Workshop.
Cladding begins
2013-11-29 - On the south side of the building, cladding operations have begun.
Trusses up
2013-10-03 - About half of 50 steel columns are already in place; in the coming weeks they will double in height to attain 27 metres.
Grey livery for the Cryostat Workshop
2013-10-03 - The steel structure will be light, but sturdy for a building this size. Approximately 500 tonnes of steel will go into the trusses, beams and columns—enough to withstand the strong Mistral wind that regularly blows over Provence.
Another factory rises
2013-10-03 - At 110 metres long, 44 metres wide and 27 meters tall, the Cryostat Workshop will be more of a factory than a workshop. When it is completed in February 2014 it will be second industrial building on the ITER platform.
In September
2013-09-18 - Steel trusses are stocked on the basemat, while construction progresses on the offices and technical rooms of the Cryostat Workshop.
The ITER platform in late August 2013
2013-08-29 - As the last foundation segment is poured on the far side of the basemat, work begins in the foreground on the walls of the technical workshops and offices.
Small team moving quickly
2013-08-26 - Approximately 20 people are working currently on the site of the Cryostat Workshop, where the basemat is nearly completed and pouring is about to begin on the first floor of the office building.
Visible progress on the Cryostat Workshop site
2013-08-22 - Adjacent to the Cryostat Workshop, the ancillary building under constrution will house offices, machinery, power supplies and other utilities.
Assembling the four segments of the cryostat
2013-07-22 - Within the on-site Cryostat Workshop, assembly activities will take place on two huge steel platforms built to support the weight of the components, jigs and fixtures.
Finishing the basemats
2013-07-20 - Foreground: the basemat for the temporary Cryostat Workshop. Left: the exit platform for the completed poloidal field coils. Right centre: the Assembly Building basemat.
Cryostat Workshop steams ahead
2013-07-15 - Concrete pouring is about to begin on the Cryostat Workshop in July 2013.
Another large steel structure
2013-07-15 - Workers complete rebar operations on the 5,500 square-metre slab of the Cryostat Workshop, adjacent to the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility.
Short ride by rail
2013-06-12 - The Cryostat Workshop, which will occupy the parcel of land in the foreground, will be only a hundred metres or so from the entrance to the Assembly Hall.
18 months of construction
2013-06-12 - The football field-size (50 x 100 m) Workshop will have equipment for machining, welding and testing, and a large "goliath" crane capable of travelling the facility's full length.
From the PF rooftop
2013-06-12 - The Poloidal Field Winding Facility and the Cryostat Workshop, side by side on the platform, are the two structures on site that will house the assembly of components that are too large to travel from the Domestic Agencies.
3,800 metric tons
2013-06-06 - 30 metres high, 30 metres wide, 3,800 tonnes—the ITER cryostat will provide the super-cool, vacuum environment for the vacuum vessel and magnets.
Groundbreaking ceremony on 6 June
2013-06-06 - A large excavator symbolically scratches the earth on the site of the future Cryostat Workshop during a ground breaking ceremony in June. Since this small portion of the ITER platform has been made available to the Indian Domestic Agency, it was natural to place the parcel-sized piece of India under the protection of Ganesha, the "Remover of Obstacles."
Four main sections
2013-06-06 - Four main cryostat sections (top lid, upper cylinder, lower cylinder and base) will be assembled in the Cryostat Workshop from 54 smaller segments shipped from India.
The four sections of the cryostat
- Due to its size and weight, the cryostat will be manufactured in segments and sub-assembled into four sections on the ITER site.