Image of the week
The crown unveiled
10 Sep 2018
This picture of the tokamak's underlying support system, now almost finalized, is worth a thousand words. Seeing the 18 radial walls from above, it is easier to understand the parallel that has been drawn with the flying buttresses of medieval architecture.
Crowning the Tokamak from underneath: 800 tonnes of concrete and 224 tonnes of steel went into this massive structure that will support a combined mass of 23,000 tonnes.
Eight hundred tonnes of concrete and 224 tonnes of steel went into this massive structure, one of the most strategic of the entire Tokamak Complex. The crown will support the combined mass of the machine and its enveloping cryostat (23,000 tonnes) and transfer mechanical, magnetic or thermal forces generated during operation in both normal and incidental situations to the building's structure.
A little more than three months have passed since the first concrete pour took place on the night of 22 May. With the exception of an opening reserved for the first magnet feed component—a cryostat feedthrough for poloidal field coil #4—the circle is now closed.
The red pipes that were part of the concrete cooling system will soon be filled with grout and their ends cut even with the concrete surface. Following the insertion of the cryostat feedthrough, the teams will begin to install the anchoring system for the 18 semi-spherical bearings that will stand between the concrete crown and the base of the cryostat.