Image of the week
Number 18, the last of 19
18 Dec 2023
In April 2020, within an interval of one week, the first two D-shaped toroidal field coils required for the ITER Tokamak were delivered to the ITER construction site. Procured by Europe and finalized in Italy, toroidal field coil #9 (TF9) was received in the wee hours of Friday 17 April; eight days later on Saturday 25 April, toroidal field coil #12 (TF12) completed the last leg of its 10,000-kilometre journey from Japan.
With the delivery, last Friday, of toroidal field coil #18, procurement by Europe and Japan of the D-shaped coils required for the machine (18 plus one spare) is complete. An official celebration is planned in January 2024.
Since then, the 350-tonne, 17-metre tall components procured by Europe and Japan (10 coils and 9 coils respectively) have been delivered with clockwork regularity. On Friday 15 December, the delivery of toroidal field coil #18 (TF18) from Europe marked the completion of this strategic procurement program. A few hours later, staff from the ITER Organization and the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy gathered around Director-General Pietro Barabaschi, Deputy Director-General Yutaka Kamaka and Alessandro Bonito-Oliva, formerly the Magnets Programme Manager for Fusion for Energy and now ITER Head of the Tokamak Program, to "greet" the massive component. A more official celebration for the end of procurement is planned in January 2024.