The ITER Poloidal Field coils facility is getting ready!

Setting up the conductor winding tooling station, ITER PF Coils facility, Cadarache.

To control the shape and stability of ITER’s super-hot plasma we will need to manufacture powerful magnets that will embrace it from top to bottom. Five of these magnets will be delivered by Europe and one by Russia. Due to their impressive size and weight, four of these magnets will be manufactured on-site. The ITER Poloidal Field (PF) coils facility will be the first engineering hub at the headquarters of the project.

Kevin Smith, F4E’s Deputy Project Manager for Magnets, welcomes us at the PF coils facility and explains the function of the impressive magnets that will be manufactured there. Gian-Battista Fachin, F4E’s Technical Officer for Magnets, presents some of the tooling that has arrived all the way from Italy, which will be used to bend and wind the conductor. Piergiorgio Aprili, F4E’s Technical Officer for Magnets, offers us a guided tour in the facility and highlights some of the key operations that will unfold during manufacturing.

The construction of the PF coils facility has been financed and delivered by F4E through a contract signed with the consortium of Spie batignolles, Omega Concept and Setec. The facility is approximately 250 metres long, 45 metres wide and 17 metres high. The building offers sufficient space to carry out all the steps of coil manufacturing: winding, impregnation, stacking and cold testing. It has the capacity to host around 80 people. Dalkia and Veolia are responsible for the infrastructure supply, operation, maintenance and waste management in the facility. SEA ALPELYTT ENERGY, ALSYOM and SEIV will supply the tooling for the production of the coils. CNIM is responsible for the manufacturing of the PF coils.

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