Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Fusion world | Innovative approaches and how ITER can help

    More than 30 private fusion companies from around the world attended ITER's inaugural Private Sector Fusion Workshop in May 2024. Four of them participated in a [...]

    Read more

  • Robert Aymar (1936-2024) | A vision turned into reality

    Robert Aymar, who played a key role in the development of fusion research in France and worldwide, and who headed the ITER project for 10 years (1993-2003) befo [...]

    Read more

  • The ITER community | United in a common goal

    Gathered on the ITER platform for a group photo (the first one since 2019, in pre-Covid times) the crowd looks impressive. Although several hundred strong, it r [...]

    Read more

  • Vacuum vessel | Europe completes first of five sectors

    The ITER assembly teams are gearing up to receive a 440-tonne machine component shipped from Italy—sector #5, the first of five vacuum vessel sectors expected f [...]

    Read more

  • SOFT 2024 | Dublin conference highlights progress and outstanding challenges

    Nestled in the residential suburb of Glasnevin, Dublin City University is a fairly young academic institution. When it opened its doors in 1980 it had just 200 [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Assembly Hall

One giant standing

Two identical handling tools in the Assembly Hall will play a critical role in preparing ITER's nine vacuum vessel sectors for their final journey: transport by overhead crane into the Tokamak Pit. Called the sector sub-assembly tools (SSAT) they will support a sector vertically while operations that can only take place in a spacious area—the addition of large thermal shielding sections and the attachment of a pair of D-shaped toroidal field magnets—are carried out. These tools must be commissioned before the first vacuum vessel sector arrives from Korea in early 2019.

(Click to view larger version...)
The first tool is fully assembled on the shop floor. The 800-tonne metal structure of SSAT#1 has now been installed in the Assembly Hall. The first segments of SSAT#2 have also arrived on site, ready to be installed on the anchoring elements adjacent to the first tool. Both tools have been procured by the Korean Domestic Agency, which is in charge of the design and fabrication of over three dozen dedicated assembly tools. As part of functional tests planned on the SSAT tools, test loads of 340 tonnes (just over the weight of a toroidal field coil) will be attached to each of the lateral wings to be rotated inward.  

(Click to view larger version...)
The sector sub-assembly tools will support charges of up to 1,200 tonnes during out-of-pit pre-assembly activities. The precise actuator system of these hydraulic-powered tools will allow components to be positioned with the highest accuracy—just 1.5 mm for the toroidal field coils that are 16 metres tall, for instance—and adjusted to six degrees of freedom (up and down, side to side, forward and backward, plus rotational directions (swivel, tilt, pivot) relative to the axes). The pre-assembly operations on the first-delivered vacuum vessel sector are expected to take the longest. With lessons learned--and two tools operating in tandem—the necessary time will be reduced significantly.

return to the latest published articles