In July, the IO Design Integration Section held a review of the tokamak, diagnostics and tritium buildings of the ITER complex. The European Union ITER team is responsible for the design of the buildings.

Six of the seven ITER Parties are involved in producing superconducting strand for the ITER magnets. Two suppliers have already produced more than 50 tons of niobium-tin and production has now begun in Korea, Russian Federation and the United States. By 2011, it is estimated that worldwide capacity will have expanded more that five-fold.

The European ITER team has signed a contract with a consortium of industries for the winding packs for the ITER toroidal magnet coils. Europe will manufacture 10 of the 19 coils, including a spare, while Japan will manufacture the remaining nine.

China’s ITER team has successfully tested the high temperature superconductor current leads, designed to transmit high current from room temperature power supplies to the low temperature superconducting coils with minimum heat load. In July, the leads operated for several hours at the peak 10 kA current, which is 20 percent above the average current required.

During August, bulldozers, scrapers and power shovels began site preparation for the ITER tokamak pit and the poloidal coils assembly building.

For more information: http://www.iter.org