Recent Progress of the KSTAR Tokamak Assembly

Since most of the major components have been finished in fabrications and being delivered to the sitie, the KSTAR is now being vigorously assembled to meet the completion milestone of August 2007. The lower systems of the KSTAR such as the cryostat base, supports, and magnet gravity support were assembled within specifications in early 2004. The 337.5deg sector of the vacuum vessel with thermal shields was also assembled on the tokamak pit in April 2005. Assembly of the sixteen toroidal (TF) magnets also started as the next step, which is expected to be finished in the 1^st quarter of 2006 according to the site delivery schedule of the last TF magnet. It is estimated that it will take more than one year from delivery of the last TF magnet to the assembly finish. Because the KSTAR is a fully superconducting tokamak, the assembly plan had to cover every consideration and this stemed from the existence of thermal shields, superconducting buslines, joints, and other components which are to be operated at cryogenic temperature. This special requirement resulted in the unique characteristics and features in the assembly engineering. In this paper, details of design features and plans of the KSTAR assembly will be explained. Moreover, recent progress in the assembly will be also reported