MHI completes final toroidal field coil for ITER fusion reactor

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has completed manufacture of the final toroidal field (TF) coil ordered by Japan's National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) for the ITER fusion reactor.

Japan is responsible for the manufacture of nine of the total 19 TF coils for ITER, of which MHI handled the production of five coils.

The TF coils for ITER are massive superconducting coils, 16.5 meters high and 9 meters wide with a gross weight of 300 tonnes each, and require a manufacturing accuracy of within 0.01% to initiate a fusion reaction in the reactor.

MHI completed the first TF coil for ITER in January 2020.

The four TF coils already completed have been successively shipped from the port of Kobe to southern France, and are being installed at the construction site. This latest unit is schedule for shipment from Kobe this month.

In addition to the TF coils, MHI is also working on the development and manufacturing of other core components for ITER, including the divertor and equatorial EC launcher.

Project background

The ITER Project is an international project aimed at demonstrating, both scientifically and technologically, the realization of fusion energy. Seven parties are participating (Japan, the EU, the U.S., Russia, South Korea, China, and India), with construction of ITER underway in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, France.

Japan is playing a major role in developing and manufacturing the core components of ITER, including the TF coils. QST, as the ITER Japan domestic agency for the ITER Project designated by Japanese Government, oversees procurement of these components.

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ITER's superconducting TF coils are D-shaped. Eighteen TF coils will encompass the vacuum vessel container and generate a powerful magnetic field; maximum of 12 tesla to confine high-temperature, high-density plasma within the vessel.

The ITER Project requires a total of 19 TF coils; including one spare. Nine are being made in Japan, including the spare and 10 in Europe. The inboard coil structures for all 19 TF coils will be manufactured at MHI's Futami Plant.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is manufacturing the niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) superconducting winding packs for the five TF coils (including the spare) built in Japan, with the outboard coil structures being manufactured in South Korea, with final assembly at the Futami Plant.