General Atomics completes heat treatment on experimental fusion reactor's central solenoid module
NewsApril 27, 2017
SAN DIEGO. General Atomics (GA) reports that it has accomplished a key portion needed for the fabrication of the ITER [International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor] Central Solenoid, as GA engineers and technicians officially completed heat treatment of the first module. The Central Solenoid ? an integral component of ITER?s unprecedented fusion facility ? is planned to stand more than five stories tall and will be the world?s most powerful pulsed superconducting magnet.
ITER is a collaborative scientific partnership between 35 nations that aims to demonstrate that fusion power is a feasible clean-energy source that can be scaled globally. The U.S. ITER project is a collaboration of more than 500 companies, laboratories, and universities, hosted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and supported by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences within the Office of Science of U.S. Department of Energy.
As part of the heat-treatment process, GA positioned the first module in a massive 1.5 megawatt furnace, which functions in a manner similar to that of convection ovens found in many kitchens, which has the ability to shorten the overall process while maintaining uniform “cooking” of the module. Inside the furnace, the module spent a little over 10 days at 1,060 degrees Fahrenheit and an additional four days at 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
John Smith, GA program manager, said of the process: “The heat treatment is what ultimately creates the solenoid's superconducting material, and completion of this process demonstrates that we are continuing to make good, consistent progress on this project.”
The electromagnet will sit at the core of a $16 billion experimental fusion reactor under construction in Cadarache, France. An international team of scientists will try to create and stabilize plasma, a distinct form of matter in which subatomic particles interact within electromagnetic fields; the ITER researchers plan to generate this gas-like plasma by heating hydrogen atoms to 10 times the temperature of the sun. ITER is tentatively scheduled to begin operating in 2020.
