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Latest ITER Newsline
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Along skid row
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ITER NEWSLINE -
Sandwiches and shells on their way to ITER
The Industrial Hedland, with 460 tonnes of ITER cryostat segments on board, reached Marseille's industrial harbour at Fos-sur-Mer on the morning of 24 November.
The ship had left Hazira Port in India on Friday 6 November carrying tier 1 of the cryostat base, including six sandwich segments (60° base sections) and six main shell segments.
Unloading operations began at Fos a few hours after the ship docked. Once the loads have been transferred by barge across the inland sea Étang de Berre, the last leg of the long journey will begin—a three-night, 100-kilometre ride along the ITER Itinerary.
The six 19-tonne main shell segments will be delivered to the ITER site by way of "regular" exceptional transport—that is, along regular roads. The large 60° base sections (10 metres long, 8.10 metres wide, 50 tonnes each) will be required to travel along the dedicated ITER Itinerary in two separate convoys of three trailers.
The first of these convoys is scheduled to reach the ITER site in the early hours of Thursday 10 December, the second on 17 December.
Manufactured by Larsen & Toubro Ltd under contract by ITER India, these components have a strong symbolic significance: they will be the first ITER machine components to reach the site.
Docked!
It is 7:00 a.m. on Monday 24 November and the cargo carrying the first cryostat segments has just docked at Fos-sur-Mer, France.
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A 10-metre "sandwich"
One of the 50-tonne, 10-metre "sandwich" segments is prepared for unloading.
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Handled with care
Every component is equipped with a shock detector.
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6 x 60 for a full circle
The large 60° cryostat base sections will travel to the ITER site in two convoys of three trailers.
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A 19-tonne swing
Each of the six main shell segments weighs 19 tonnes.
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In anticipation of the journey by land
The cryostat segments will cross an inland sea by barge before travelling 104 kilometres along the ITER Itinerary to the site. Even before the components are unloaded, the people responsible for the convoys are at work...
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A passage from India
The "Industrial Hedland" carried 460 tonnes of ITER machine components in its hold. The journey from India lasted a little less than three weeks.
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No time wasted
Unloading operations began at Fos a few hours after the ship docked on 24 November. © Emmanuel Bonici
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