The ITER Organization (IO) has awarded a 10-year, $190 million contract for the tokamak assembly and installation to a joint venture called MOMENTUM, made up of Amec Foster Wheeler (UK), Assystem (France), and KEPCO (Korea). The job entails the aggregation of more than one million components supplied by the seven ITER partners. ITER is aiming to produce "first plasma" in 2025.

Hyundai to Build ITER Vacuum Vessel Sectors

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has been selected to build two additional sectors of the ITER vacuum vessel, at an estimated cost of about $100 million. This is in addition to two other sectors that were assigned to HHI in 2010. The two sectors stand about 10 meters high and weigh 400 tons.

Construction Underway on Six ITER Buildings

Construction is well underway on six ITER buildings and preparatory ground works have begun on three others. The Radiofrequency Heating Building will house the 25 ITER gyrotrons and also host the generators for the two 45 ton antennas of the ion cyclotron resonance heating system. A total of 40 MW of RF heating power will be delivered to the plasma. Equipment installation in the building is scheduled to begin in late October 17, with building handover in August 2018. Work has also begun on the ground level of the Diagnostics Building and continuing on the Tokamak Building and the Assembly Building. Eventually the Tokamak and Assembly Buildings will be joined as one. Other buildings underway include the Site Service Building (which will include the chiller plant for air conditioning, demineralized water, air compressors, etc., and buildings associated with cryogenics, tritium and coil winding.

Europe Completes Its Share of Poloidal Field Conductor

The last of the European-produced superconductor for ITER’s poloidal field coils has been completed in Italy. The conductor consists of more than 1400 niobium-titanium strands bound together to form a cable, which is then inserted into a stainless steel jacket, compacted and spooled. Europe is providing 18 percent of the conductor. The rest is to be provided by China (62 percent) and Russia (20 percent). The European conductor will undergo final testing before being shipped to China where it will be used in the fabrication of ITER's sixth poloidal field coil (PF6).

Cryostat Fabrication Underway

A massive 34-meter diameter frame has been completed that is needed for welding together the various pieces of the 30-meter diameter ITER cryostat base section and welding is beginning. It is expected that is will take around 18 months to complete the cryostat base section fabrication. Once completed, the base section, which will weigh 1250 tons, will be moved into temporary storage, awaiting completion and installation of the lower and upper cylinders and finally the top lid.

For more detailed information on ITER progress, visit: http://www.iter.org