Restoration of the DIII-D solenoid

The DIII-D tokamak has been operated since June 1995 with constrained ohmic heating capability as imposed by the abandonment of half of it´s solenoid system due to a cooling water leak. The solenoid is comprised of “A” and “B” windings with separate multiple power leads to each. The cooling water leak occurred in the lead of the B winding. This leak occurred in a remote area under the DIII-D vessel and is believed to be caused by magnetic forces developing cyclic bending loads on the conductor. Visual inspection of the lead using flexible bore scopes indicated that the structural fiberglass overwrap intended to band the supply and return leads into a primary-force canceling group had failed allowing individual conductors to become inadequately supported against bending loads. The overwrap failed as a result of poor epoxy encapsulation of the lead which was manufactured in 1978. Inspection of the A lead confirmed no overwrap failure and that the vacuum encapsulation of the A lead was proper and to specification. In order to continue operations, it was decided to abandon the B winding of the solenoid and operate under reduced (5 V-sec) capability. An in-situ repair approach was mandated by the extensive and lengthy effort required to disassemble, repair, and reassemble the tokamak. Access from outside the tokamak was severely limited. A plan to repair the damaged lead was developed and implemented over a 10 month period. This paper describes the repair of the solenoid lead. A VCR video tape of these remote installation efforts has been assembled