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

  • Portfolio | Sector repair has started

    Built up against vacuum vessel sector #7, the scaffolding reaches almost 20 metres in height and masks the massive component. Streaks of blinding light, filtere [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Public/private consortium is building the DTT tokamak

    The Divertor Test Tokamak in Italy is creating a new model for engagement with industry in fusion research. ITER helped to pave the way. The Divertor Test Tokam [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | An architectural paradox

    There is something deliberately paradoxical in the architectural treatment of the ITER buildings. On the one hand, the alternation between the mirror-like stai [...]

    Read more

  • Former French Prime Minister | A fan then and now

    For Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister of France (2002-2005) who visited ITER on Friday 15 March, touring the ITER installation with ITER Director-Gene [...]

    Read more

  • CARE at ITER | New project values launched

    Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Excellence drive the future of fusion for a diverse staff. When Pietro Barabaschi joined as ITER Director-General to [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

Fusion world

UKAEA's CHIMERA set to transform fusion component testing

Construction of a unique testing machine for fusion components is underway at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). 

When it opens in 2022, CHIMERA will be the only device in the world able to subject critical fusion component prototypes to the high heat flux and static and pulsed magnetic fields expected in a future reactor. (Click to view larger version...)
When it opens in 2022, CHIMERA will be the only device in the world able to subject critical fusion component prototypes to the high heat flux and static and pulsed magnetic fields expected in a future reactor.
The machine, known as CHIMERA (or Combined Heating and Magnetic Research Apparatus), will be located at UKAEA's new Fusion Technology Facility in South Yorkshire, UK.

When it opens in 2022, CHIMERA will be the only device in the world able to subject critical fusion component prototypes to the combination of high heat flux with static and pulsed magnetic fields within a vacuum or inert atmosphere—conditions that will be faced in large fusion devices such as ITER and in future commercial plants. (Watch an animation here.)

Key fusion in-vessel components like the blanket, divertor and diagnostic modules are expected to be tested. Optical digital image correlation and laser metrology will be used to map 3D surface deformations and damage due to the harsh testing environment. In addition to providing invaluable test results, these and other techniques will be used to generate and synchronize component digital twins—predictive models and simulations that will be crucial to the design and qualification of fusion power plants. This "virtual qualification" is a key strand of CHIMERA's capability that will enable virtual testing of components under conditions that cannot be recreated in an experiment.

"This will enable a step change in our ability to verify and test components for all UK and international fusion research programs. It therefore represents a hugely important national capability, enabling industry in the UK and internationally to design, and eventually qualify, components for future commercial fusion power plants."

See the original article here.

To learn more about the facility's capabilities or to express an interest in using CHIMERA visit this page or contact UKAEA Business Development Manager, John Steele, at john.steele@ukaea.uk.



return to the latest published articles