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  • Busbar installation | Navigating an obstacle course

    What is simple and commonplace in the ordinary world, like connecting an electrical device to a power source, often takes on extraordinary dimension at ITER. Wh [...]

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  • Vacuum vessel assembly | Back in the starting blocks

    Close to two years have passed since vacuum vessel assembly was halted when defects were identified in the ITER tokamak's vacuum vessel sectors and thermal shie [...]

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  • Ride 4 Fusion | Scientific outreach on two wheels

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  • 11th ITER Games | Good fun under the Provencal sun

    A yearly tradition in the ITER community for more than a decade now, the ITER Games offer a pleasant way to reconnect among colleagues and neighbours after the [...]

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  • Manufacturing | Recent milestones in Russia

    Russia continues to deliver in-kind components to the ITER project according to procurement arrangements signed with the ITER Organization. Some recent manufact [...]

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Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Central solenoid

All one needs to begin stacking

A beginner's Erector Set? Elements for an innovative board game? Not quite: these three circular structures and the tools and accessories scattered about are all one needs to begin building the ITER central solenoid, a massive, 18-metre-tall magnet weighing in excess of 1,000 tonnes.

All the elements are now in place to start building the 1,000-tonne, 18-metre-tall central solenoid—a superconducting magnet powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier out of the water. (https://www.iter.org/newsline/-/2924) (Click to view larger version...)
All the elements are now in place to start building the 1,000-tonne, 18-metre-tall central solenoid—a superconducting magnet powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier out of the water. (https://www.iter.org/newsline/-/2924)
The yellow structure at the bottom left is the "lifting fixture," a bespoke tool that will handle each of the six central solenoid modules by exerting a strong radial force from the outside, clutching and securing them in a 220 kN (kilonewton) embrace. To the right of the lifting fixture, awaiting assembly, is the circular helium manifold plate that will support the C-shaped pipe connected to the magnet's cooling circuit.

Wrapped in pink protective plastic at the upper left of the image is the first of the six modules that will be stacked, connected and held together by a set of tie plates to form the central solenoid. Manufactured by General Atomics in California, the central solenoid modules are the most emblematic of US Domestic Agency contributions to ITER.

To the right of the module sits the assembly platform. Nine circular fiberglass plate are already in place for ground insulation and height adjustment. The future stack of modules, in its support structure, will rise 18 metres.

Delivered in September last year, verified and equipped throughout the fall and winter, the first central solenoid module will be lifted and positioned on the assembly platform this summer.

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