Seven out of the nine sectors of the ITER vacuum vessel, the heart of the ITER machine where the hot plasma is confined in order for the fusion reaction to take place, are currently being developed by F4E and its contractors (the remaining two will be delivered by the Korean Domestic Agency). In October 2010 F4E awarded the contract for the supply of the seven sectors to the European consortium of AMW (Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A, Mangiarotti S.p.A and Walter Tosto S.p.A).
The manufacturing of the large stainless steel sectors for the ITER vacuum vessel requires milling – a material removal process which can create a variety of features on a part by cutting away the unwanted material. For this purpose one of the world’s largest high precision portal milling machines ever built, the “PowerTec”, has been inaugurated at the Walter Tosto facility in Ortona, Italy. Especially designed and built by the German large tooling manufacturer Waldrich Coburg, the “PowerTec” weighs 1,300 tons and measure 50 metres in length, 18 metres in height and is 22 metres wide.
However, it is not only the sheer size of the “PowerTec” that counts when it comes to handling the precious ITER parts; it is the machine’s precision. The manufacturing of the ITER vacuum vessel requires extreme precision in order to accommodate for the many components such as the 440 blanket modules, the 54 divertor cassettes, the in-vessel coils and the blanket manifolds which will act as a first barrier and protect the vacuum vessel from the neutrons and other energetic particles that are produced by the plasma. For most of these components tolerances are in the order of 1 to 3 millimetres which is extreme precision considering the highly complex 5-axis machining task and the workpiece dimensions, also in regard of possible thermal expansions of these huge parts.The dimensions of the “PowerTec” milling machine inaugurated at the Water Tosto facility in September were dictated by the dimensions of the vacuum vessel segments themselves, each weighing about 450 tons and standing 12 metres tall.
A key ITER heating technology ready for the Neutral Beam Test Facility.
F4E Director welcomes Francesco Sette and thanks exiting Chair, Carlos Alejaldre, for his leadership.
A major step to achieve record beam operations and prepare for IFMIF-DONES
Fusion will contribute to Europe’s energy security and competitiveness.
Two selected projects will get up to 50.000 EUR to apply fusion know-how in the…
F4E accelerates delivery in collaboration with Ansaldo Nucleare, Westinghouse and Walter Tosto.