ITER Central Solenoid Module fabrication program

General Atomics (GA) is currently under contract to fabricate the ITER Central Solenoid Modules (CSM). The contract is managed by the US ITER at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy Office of Science. The contract includes the design and qualification of manufacturing processes and tooling necessary to fabricate seven superconducting CSM (6 + 1 spare) that constitute the ITER Central Solenoid. The modules will be produced and delivered to the ITER site during 2017-2019. GA has established a fabrication facility that combines 1,500 m² of offices with 6,000 m² of fabrication space. Extensive building modifications were made in anticipation of the first tooling station which arrived in February of 2014. The facility utilizes several cranes with up to 35 ton capability to handle and move delivered conductor and wound hex and quad pancakes during the winding, joint and lead fabrication, and stacking operations. The 110-tonne coil is moved from station to station via a self-propelled air-bearing cart designed for this application. Critical systems have been designed, built and initial testing completed for use in fabricating the CSM. The winding stations were designed, built and successfully tested at the Tauring S.p.A factory in Turin Italy. The reaction heat treatment furnace has been designed, built and tested at Seco-Warwick facility in Sweibodzin, Poland. Insulating wrapping heads were completed by Ridgway Machines Ltd of Leicester, England and shipped to GA. GA has designed and built several other key tooling stations for joining the coil segments, insulating the turns and vacuum pressure impregnation. Qualification of the equipment is accomplished with Factory Acceptance Tests at the supplier´s facility, Site Acceptance Tests and commissioning at GA, and is completed with the production of the mockup coil prior to using the station for the fabrication of the first CS module.