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Neutral beam power | "Outside and beyond anything"
In an empty plot on the ITER platform, preparatory works have started for the construction of two new buildings. From the outside, they will look like ordinary [...]
Systems installation | Anticipation and flexibility
It is a subterranean world of scaffolding and supports, piping and cables, concrete and embedded plates. To the untrained eye, the activity underway in the base [...]
Image of the week | Keeping an eye on the hot (double) pancake
An ITER ring-shaped coil begins its existence as cable-in-conduit conductor, wound into 'double pancakes' that are eventually stacked one upon the other to form [...]
Cryostat thermal shield | A "strong back" for a fragile component
The lower cylinder thermal shield is a large silver-plated component, circular in shape and five metres tall, which fits inside the depression in the cryostat b [...]
Diagnostic shielding | B4C ceramic bricks prove their worth
A number of materials can effectively shield diagnostic equipment from the neutron flux coming from the plasma. To find the best one, the diagnostics team at IT [...]
A powerful crane and worker dexterity - that's what is needed to precisely position the 87-ton component onto the supports that span the gravel-covered pit.
The four US-procured transformers that will be needed to distribute power to the ITER installation have all reached the ITER site. The first one had been the first Highly Exceptional Load to travel along the ITER Itinerary in January; three more were delivered on 21 May in a single transport operation.
A mere two hours after arrival, one of the four transformers was readied for installation on the platform in the vicinity of the the 400 kV switchyard. A powerful crane was used to position the 87-ton component on its dedicated pad; the same operation was duplicated the following day. Two transformers are now place—the first installed components of the ITER plant.
The pad onto which each transformer is solidly anchored covers a 1.5-metre-deep, gravel-covered pit that has been dimensioned to receive the 44 cubic metres of oil the component contains (oil is used as an insulator) in case of a leak. Eight-metre walls stand between the pads to prevent a possible fire in one transformer from spreading to the others.
The four transformers will bring down the voltage from 400 kV to the standard 20 kV of industrial installations. "ITER could operate with only three transformers but for reasons of flexibility and redundancy, we have opted for four," explains ITER Electrical Power Distribution section leader Joël Hourtoule.
The second pair of transformers will be installed in the coming weeks.
View a slide show of the convoy and transformer installation below.
