A convoy of trucks carrying Belgium’s voluntary contribution to the Broader Approach, left on 17 September from the headquarters of ALM in Liège and crossed the French frontiers in order to deliver several key components to the Toroidal Field (TF) coil test facility of the Commissariat à l’ Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) in Saclay. Getting the cryostat to the facility was challenging and required the removal of many traffic signs along the way.
The delivery comprised of a large vacuum vessel (cryostat) measuring 11 metres long, 7 metres wide and 5 metres high with an integrated liquid nitrogen shield, three cryogenic supports for handling and operating the TF coils in the cryostat, several handling tools, a vacuum system to provide the insulation vacuum, and a valve box vessel as the interface between the helium refrigerator and the cryostat.
The role of the cryostat is to provide thermal insulation for the TF coils when they are cooled close to absolute zero and powered with a current of 25.7 kA.
On 21 September the JT-60SA Project leader Shinchi Ishida visited CEA to witness the arrival of the components. The delivery of the test cryostat, the test frames and the valve box vessel mark an important milestone for the setup of the TF coil test facility.
CEA Saclay with support by CEA Cadarache has taken the responsibility of setting-up the complete test facility to perform the cryogenic tests with the TF coils. The 18 TF coils plus a spare coil are part of the joint contribution between CEA and L’Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile (ENEA) and are currently being manufactured.
The CEA Saclay test team, drawing on its experience from similar tests of superconducting coils for the W7-X project, will use part of the equipment from the previous tests.
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