Development and testing of 40-kA, 13-T Nb/sub 3/Sn cable-in-conduit conductors for a fusion reactor

The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) has progressed development of a 40-kA, 13-T cable-in-conduit conductor for a central superconducting solenoid coil of a fusion reactor. Two types of developed full-scale conductors were tested under the US-Japan Collaboration Program at the Fusion ENgineering International eXperiment (FENIX) Test Facility in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) which has a pair of 13-T, 320-mm bore large split magnets and a more than 40-kA power supply. Each conductor consists of around 700 bronze processed (NbTi)3Sn strands and a titanium conduit. The superconducting performance tests such as current sharing temperature (Tcs) measurement test were carried out. Through a series of experiments, it was confirmed that the conductor satisfied their designed temperature margin of 2 K or more at their rated conditions. In this paper, the development of full-scale conductors is described and measured Tcs values are discussed.<>