Resistances of electrical joints in the TF model coil of ITER: comparisons of first test results with samples results

The test of the Toroidal Field (TF) Model Coil of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has been the opportunity to measure the DC resistances of all the joints of a real coil and to compare them to values previously measured on prototype full-size joint samples. This paper describes and discusses the different methods used for measuring all the joint resistances, and gives the results of joint resistance measurements (1-2 nΩ range) as function of the coil current up to the maximum value of 80 kA. Comparisons with resistances measured on prototype joints in relevant field/current conditions are presented and discussed.