Highlight - Design Concerns in Building the Largest Fusion Reactor
The ITER tokamak requires complex engineering, as its design relies upon many emergent technologies. The challenges of its creation include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
1. This project is meant to serve as a prototype for the mass production of tokamaks (which would make a viable alternative to, or replacement of, current fission-based nuclear power plants), it is vital that the machine be manufacturable.
That is to say, the model cannot be designed with only the nominal build in mind; no product will be built without variation, and the tokamak is no exception. It must therefore be able to function with tolerances that are large enough to manufacture, but small enough to accommodate the device's structural needs.
2. ITER must also ensure proper assembly of the structure, as unprecedented power, heat, and magnetic strength of the fusion reaction and system operation will cause extreme stress to the device's structure.
During operation, forces inherent to the device will tend to squeeze and pull parts of the structure in, closing gaps between them. Those gaps must be precise enough to uniformly close, leaving the parts to be largely self-supporting after steady-state operation is reached.
Especially important components to consider in this precision are the eighteen "D" shaped electromagnets around the outside of the device vacuum chamber, each of which stands 14-meters tall. They require very precise tolerances (+/- 0.5 mm) for the nominal toroidal gap, in order to align and lend structural support when energized. If the gap uniformity is not within specification, the stresses from the process may pull the magnets out of alignment, possibly causing damage to the device.
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