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Top management | Tim Luce, Head of Science & Operation
What does a seven-year-old growing up in a small community in Arkansas know about what it means to be an 'atomic scientist'? Probably not much. Except, remember [...]
Blanket shield blocks | Series production milestone in Korea
It takes many months for a single forged block of stainless steel to be transformed into the complex shape of an ITER blanket shield block, full of gullies, cha [...]
A little less than five years ago, in December 2015, the first segments of the ITER cryostat (out of a total of 54) were delivered to the construction site from [...]
On site | As ITER begins assembly, HVAC becomes mission critical
Not only will heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) help protect people and equipment during the assembly phase at ITER, but they will also help ensu [...]
The first ITER vacuum vessel sector has passed a helium leak test on site with flying colours. Back in March 2020, as experts from the Korean Domestic Agency [...]
In the summer of 2017, a circular platform was installed inside of the large steel-and-concrete cylinder of the Tokamak pit. The 200-tonne structure was meant to protect the workers active in the lower levels while providing storage for activities above. The following year, the platform was hoisted some 20 metres to form a temporary roof, where it remained for two years. And finally, last week, the time had come to remove the massive "lid" to allow access to the pit in anticipation of the machine assembly phase. In two days, the 11 segments of the structure were dismantled, lifted and safely stored to be re-used at a later stage of ITER operations.
One of the smaller lid segments is being readied for lifting. In two days, the 11 segments of the structure were dismantled, lifted and safely stored to be re-used at a later stage of ITER operations
In the vast open space of the assembly theatre the powerful overhead cranes were back at work, lifting the lid's segments one by one, transporting them from one hall to the other, and delicately depositing them on the vehicles that would take them to storage—a regular flat-bed trailer for the smaller segments (10 to 20 tonnes), a dedicated self-propelled modular transporter for the two "half moons" weighing close to 80 tonnes each (more details in the image gallery below).
On its way to the self-propelled transport trailer, an 80-tonne half-moon segment passes over the upending tool.
The intense activity in the crane hall, with several elevated platforms moving painters along the rafters just below the crane runway, plus space limitations in the adjacent assembly hall where the upending tool was being prepared for another set of tests, added constraints to the already challenging operation.
But the well-oiled team, once again, proved up to the task. Access to the Tokamak pit is now open to the overhead cranes.
