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General Atomics celebrates shipment of first ITER Central Solenoid module

Homeland August 12, 2021

General Atomics (GA) marked the successful completion and shipment of the first module of the ITER Central Solenoid, the world’s most powerful pulsed superconducting magnet, with a celebration at the firm’s Magnet Technologies Center (MTC) in Poway, California.

The event included the participation of Representatives Ken Calvert (R-CA-42), Darrell Issa (R-CA-50), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30), Frank Lucas (R-OK-03), and Scott Peters (D-CA-52), as well as Mayor Todd Gloria (City of San Diego) and senior representatives of the US Department of Energy, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, ITER, US ITER, and representatives from the organisations and subcontractors who have supported this historic project.

The Central Solenoid is a critical component of the ITER experiment, an international collaboration of 35 nations that will demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy. Fully assembled, this massive magnet will be 59 feet tall and 14 feet in diameter, and will weigh a thousand tons. Often referred to as the “heart of the ITER facility,” it will drive 15 million amperes of electrical current that will be used to shape and control the fusion reaction.

Neal Blue, CEO and Chairman of General Atomics, said: “I am immensely proud of our team for reaching this important milestone. The Central Solenoid is a critical component for ITER and the most significant in-kind contribution the United States is making to this international collaboration. It is fitting to celebrate the completion of the first module, and the opportunity for the San Diego region to leave its mark on this ambitious project.”

“The Central Solenoid is one of the most complex and demanding pulsed magnet programs ever undertaken,” said John Smith, GA’s Director of Engineering and Projects and Project Manager for Central Solenoid Module Fabrication. “Pulsed superconducting magnets of this power and scale have never been made before. Successfully designing, fabricating, testing, and shipping the first module, with six more in various stages of production, is truly a testament to the skill and dedication of the team here at General Atomics.”

The Central Solenoid modules are being manufactured under the direction of the US ITER project, managed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Under the ITER agreement, all members share equally in the technology developed while funding only a portion of the total cost. The United States is contributing approximately nine percent of ITER’s total construction costs.

The Central Solenoid is one of 12 hardware systems that US ITER, funded by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, is providing to the project. More than 80 percent of the funds appropriated by Congress for ITER are used domestically to support high-tech jobs and manufacturing in the United States by funding in-kind contributions like the Central Solenoid.

General Atomics partnered with dozens of independent vendors and contractors in the San Diego metropolitan region and throughout the United States to support the fabrication of the Central Solenoid modules.

The first Central Solenoid module recently arrived in France after being shipped from the MTC in late June. It is scheduled to reach the ITER site in the coming weeks. Five additional modules, plus one spare, are at various stages of fabrication, with the second module expected to ship this month. The Central Solenoid will be assembled as the modules arrive on site and is scheduled to be fully installed in the 2023-24 timeframe. ITER is scheduled to begin its first plasma operations in 2025.

image courtesy of General Atomics

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Post written by: Matt Brown