F4E Annual Report 2009 - Fusion For Energy - Europa

Welding mock-up by CNIMHIPped mock-up by Metsocandidate Nb 3Sn suppliers and two potential cablemanufacturers.As far as the contract for the supply of the tenwinding packs is concerned, the call for tender waslaunched with the aim to sign the contract in 2010.By the end of 2009 the Procurement Arrangementsfor conductors and the coils have been signed. Eightcontracts/grants have been signed in 2008-2009 forthe Magnet area as described in Annex I.Vacuum Vessel and In-Vessel ComponentsThe Procurement Arrangement (PA) for the productionof the seven out of the nine Vacuum Vessel (VV)sectors was signed in November 2009. The VV is thedouble-walled steel container in the very centre of theITER machine in which the plasma is contained.Some of the activities for the VV defined in the 2008and 2009 Work Programmeshave been delayed orcancelled due to the need of carrying out additionalstudies, together with ITER IO, to explore the potentialof alternative designs (March-July 2009) and to thedelay in the signature of the PA.During the reporting period, the blanket activitiesrelated mainly to two components that are part of thesystem: the First Wall (FW) and the attachments ofthe Blanket Shield Modules (BSM) onto the VV. Theactivities may be subdivided into four areas:1. R&D in support of the Blanket programme:A number of grants and procurements have beenlaunched according to the Work Programme andare detailed in Annex I.2. Component design in support of the ITER IO effortcovering the following three areas:··The development of a welded solution for thedesign of the BSM attachments, to explorealternatives with respect to an ITER referencesolution that was demonstrating a number oftechnical concerns;··The study of an alternative design of the Blanketsystem, proposed by the ITER IO, compatiblewith an alternative design of the VV;··The design and analyses (for the modules tobe procured by F4E) in support of the BlanketIntegrated Product Team (BIPT) effort toprepare for the conceptual design review of thewall-mounted BSMs.3. Pre-qualification activities:The first phase of qualification for the procurementof the ITER FW panels was completed in 2009. TheEuropean qualification mock-ups have passedthe high heat flux (HHF) tests without any damageand F4E was the first DA to pass this qualificationphase.32