Fusion for Energy, in collaboration with Ansaldo Nucleare, Westinghouse and Walter Tosto, has completed manufacturing Europe's final vacuum vessel sector for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor at Cadarache in south-eastern France.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor's (ITER's) plasma chamber, or vacuum vessel, houses the fusion reactions and acts as a first safety containment barrier. With an interior volume of 1,400 cubic metres, it will be formed from nine wedge-shaped steel sectors that measure more than 14 metres in height and weigh 440 tonnes. The ITER vacuum vessel, once assembled, will have an outer diameter of 19.4 metres, a height of 11.4 metres, and weigh approximately 5,200 tonnes. With the subsequent installation of in-vessel components such as the blanket and the divertor, the vacuum vessel will weigh 8,500 tonnes.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor's (ITER's) plasma chamber, or vacuum vessel, houses the fusion reactions and acts as a first safety containment barrier.
Each vacuum vessel sector is manufactured in four segments, requiring more than 1.6 kilometres of welding for assembly. Maintaining precise tolerances of less than a few millimetres ensures the seamless integration of internal components, which demands advanced forming and welding technologies.