Smallest poloidal field coil ready for shipment
The smallest of ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ's six ring-shaped poloidal field coils has passed all factory acceptance tests in Russia. The next step is shipment to the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ site.
At the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard in Saint Petersburg, specialists have completed the factory acceptance tests on poloidal field coil #1 (PF1). Successful testing, confirmed by specialists of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, allows Russian enterprises to begin preparing for the shipment of the magnet coil to ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ in the south of France.
Nine metres in diameter and weighing 160 tonnes, PF1 is one of six coils in the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ poloidal field magnetic system, which serves to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma in the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ reactor. At the core of each poloidal field magnet are coiled layers of niobium-titanium (NbTi) superconductor—for PF1, approximately 6 km of conductor was required.
The fabrication of an ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ poloidal field coil requires several stages of verification due to its first-of-a-kind nature and the extremely high requirements imposed by the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ. High-voltage DC tests with a voltage of 30 kV, high-voltage AC tests with a voltage of 10 kV, a Paschen test with a voltage of 15 kV in a vacuum chamber with a pressure range of 1-100 000 Pa, and leak tests in a vacuum vessel are all part of the factory acceptance testing package. The results of all tests performed earlier this year confirmed full compliance with the requirements of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ.
This is one of the 25 systems included in the scope of responsibility of the Russian Federation in the framework of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ project. The shipment of the PF1 coil to ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ is planned for the middle of this year.