±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and Korean Domestic Agency sign TF Conductor Procurement Arrangement
The procurement and thus the manufacturing of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ magnets took a big leap forward on 7 May, when Kaname Ikeda, Director-General of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, and Gyung- Su Lee, Head of the Korean Domestic Agency established by the Korean government in September 2007, signed the Procurement Arrangement (PA) for the superconductors—the essential part of ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ's superconducting Toroidal Field magnets.
Most of the components that will make up ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ are to be manufactured by each of the seven participating countries and contributed in-kind through their Domestic Agencies. ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Korea is the fourth Domestic Agency following Japan, Europe and the Russian Federation to have signed the Procurement Arrangement for the TF conductors. ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Korea is responsible for 20.18 % of the total scope of the TF conductors. Today, 84.67 % of the total scope for the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ TF conductors (about EUR 273 million) has been allocated.
"For ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Korea, the TF Conductor PA is the first Procurement Arrangement signed," Gyung- Su Lee explained. "Therefore it has very important symbolic meaning as with this the Korean ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ project is entering the construction phase."
The signing ceremony was received by many fusion scientists and engineers here in Korea as a very significant event because of the successful testing of the KSTAR TF magnet systems last week with ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ-like Nb3Sn superconducting cables demonstrating the quality of the Korean-produced Nb3Sn superconducting technology to the world."