Focus on F4E’s Magnet Group

F4E’s Magnet Group is in charge of the supply of the ITER magnet components assigned to Europe. Since the magnet production is very critical for the overall ITER construction schedule, the Group has already launched several manufacturing contracts for the procurement of the Toroidal Field (TF) and Poloidal Field (PF) conductors and fabrication of 10 TF winding packs assigned to Europe.

The procurement of the superconductor lengths has been split in four main contracts. About 58 tonnes of the very advanced and expensive superconducting wire made of Nb₃Sn have been assigned to Oxford Superconducting Technology (OST) in August 2009. This is equivalent to 60% of the total quantity to be procured, while the second contract for the remaining 40% is being signed. This was preceded by a procurement contract for 62 tonnes of copper wire assigned to Luvata (Finland) in early April 2009. An open tender for cabling and jacketing of all the TF and PF conductor lengths was closed at the end of October and is under evaluation.

Central radial plate mock-up

Construction of the TF winding pack

 

Other large procurements have been launched for the TF coils, in particular the production of two radial plate prototypes and the call for tender for the production of the TF winding packs. A first contract to produce the prototype of a side radial plate has been placed with the company CNIM in Toulon, France, in September 2009. A second contract for the manufacturing of a central plate using an alternative fabrication method is being signed with the Italian company Simic.  An open call for tender has been placed for the 10 TF winding packs, with a deadline due in mid-December. The call comprises the manufacturing of the winding packs with conductors supplied by four ITER Parties and radial plates provided by another supplier selected after the manufacture of the two prototypes.

In order to cope with the amount of work related to all these activities, as well as the future procurement of 5 PF coils and 12 pre-compression rings, the Magnet Group has been reinforced in mid-2009 with seven new staff members. The group now consists of 10 staff members, with 5 people working on the TF coil procurement coordinated by Alessandro Bonito Oliva and 3 people working on the conductor procurement coordinated by Thierry Boutboul. Two more staff members will join in early 2010 to work on the Poloidal Field coils.