The European Procurement of Cold Test and Case Insertion of the ITER Toroidal Field Coils

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is an international scientific project with the aim of building a tokamak fusion reactor capable of producing at least 10 times more energy than that spent to sustain the reaction. In a tokamak the fusion reaction is magnetically confined and the toroidal field coil system plays a primary role in this confinement. Fusion for Energy, the European Domestic Agency for ITER, is responsible for the supply of 10 out the 19 toroidal field coils. Their procurement has been subdivided in three main work packages: the production of 70 radial plates (the structural components which will house the conductors), the manufacture of 10 winding packs (the core of the magnet) and cold test and insertion into the coil cases of 10 winding packs. The cold test/insertion work package presents significant technological challenges. These include the cold test of the winding packs 14 m high, 9 m wide and weighing 110 t, the welding and inspection of the 316 LN stainless steel coil case, with welded thicknesses of up to 144 mm accessible only from one side combined with the need to minimize the deformation during the welding process (more than 70 m of weld per coil and up to 90 passes to fill the chamfer) and the resin filling of the coil case after insertion of the winding pack (the total volume to be filled up is about one cubic meter per coil). From 2009 up to mid 2011, F4E has carried out an R&D program in order to investigate the most challenging steps of the manufacturing processes associated to this work package, both to meet the demands of the ITER schedule and to minimize technological risks; in this paper an overview of the results obtained is presented.