1st ITER Magnet Component Arrives in Cadarache

The first ITER magnet component, PF4 cryostat feeder through, arrived in Cadarache on 25th October. A ceremony was held in IRFM to celebrate this delivery from China. This magnet feeder system was manufactured by the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, and will be tested on MIFI (Magnet Infrastructure Facilities for ITER) on CEA site, before installation on ITER.

At the ceremony, ITER DG Bernard Bigot congratulated and thanked China for its partnership, leadership, scientific genuine excellence and, most of all, its commitment to ITER project.

“Yesterday was just the 10th anniversary of ITER. I believe what we are doing is historic!” CNDA DG Delong Luo said. “I would express my gratitude to the ASIPP team led by Yuntao SONG.”

Feeder is the lifeline of ITER magnet. It carries cryogenic cooling and power supply and plays the role as the transmission line for diagnosis and control signals. The newly-arrived PF4 CFT is 8.5m long, 4.8m tall and 2.5m wide, consisting of more than 60,000 parts and weighing 16.1 tons. But can we imagine? It is just 1% of the entire Feeder system!

PF4 CFT is also the first magnet component of ITER. It’s the first feeder component to be installed before the ITER cryostat is in place.That’s why its arrival has positive significance to the progress of ITER project.

CEA/IRFM Director Alain Becoulet, ITER Magnet Division head Neil Mitchell and more than 40 scientists and engineers from ITER IO, ASIPP and IRFM also attended the ceremony to welcome the component arriving across seas. (Yingkun XI reports)