Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has completed manufacture of four toroidal field (TF) coils (of a total of five, including one spare) ordered by the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) for the ITER, an experimental fusion reactor, currently under construction in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance in southern France. The completed TF coils will be shipped to southern France from Kobe, and installed on site by the ITER Organization, with operations to commence in 2025.「Photo=On-site assembly work for the first (rear) and second (foreground) units」

MHI completed the world’s first TF coil for ITER in January 2020, holding a ceremony at its Futami Plant to mark the achievement. This first coil, and the second unit completed in March 2020, are currently in the process of being installed in the experimental reactor in southern France. The third coil, completed in November 2020, has arrived at the site and testing has been completed.

To produce a nuclear fusion reaction in the reactor, the fuel of deuterium and tritium needs to be held in a magnetic field in a high-temperature, high-density (plasma) state. Accordingly, the TF coils that are the core components of ITER require high precision manufacturing to secure the plasma with a high degree of accuracy, and sufficient thickness to withstand the strong magnetic field of tens of thousands of tons.

In addition to handling the final assembly process for five of the total 19 TF coils in ITER, MHI manufactured the structure and winding used in the TF coils, achieving a level of precision within 0.01% for these massive superconducting coils, which are 16.5 meters high and 9 meters wide, with a gross weight of 300 tonnes.

In addition to the completion of the four TF coils for ITER, MHI is also working on manufacturing other core components, including the divertor 1 and equatorial EC launcher. 

By drawing on its accumulated knowledge to provide mass production technologies for components with a high degree of manufacturing difficulty, and actively supporting the ITER project to develop technology that will be vital to the stable development of the world, MHI continues to contribute to enhancing the reliability of fusion technology.

(IRuniverse)

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