PPPL engineering contributions to ITER, the international fusion experiment under construction in France, are forging ahead at the Laboratory. PPPL is responsible for the design and construction of seven diagnostic instruments that will be housed in various port plugs to detect and record data, and for the purchase of electrical equipment that will provide steady state power to buildings throughout the ITER facility.

The two assignments are proceeding smoothly. Design work for the PPPL-led diagnostics and port plugs, managed by engineer Russell Feder, is moving ahead toward preliminary design reviews scheduled for 2018 and 2019. Feder leads a national team of engineers and physicists from PPPL, General Atomics, the University of Texas at Austin, Nova Photonics, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in carrying out this work.

After the ITER Organization reviews the designs, the diagnostic and port plug projects will proceed to final design and construction. Finally, PPPL will integrate all diagnostics inside shield modules — enclosures at the head of the port plugs that face the ultra-hot plasma. Total value of the work is nearly $300 million.

Purchase and delivery of components for ITER’s Steady State Electrical Network (SSEN), comprised of a substation and distribution system, is set for completion this year. The project, begun in 2012 and currently led by engineer John Dellas, has so far delivered 12 systems, including four 87-ton transformers that will deliver power from the 400-kilovolt French electrical grid to the ITER site. The final three systems are scheduled for delivery this year.

When completed, the nearly $40 million SSEN will power all steady state ITER electrical loads, including heating, cooling and lighting systems. A separate network will provide the pulsed loads that will run the heating, current and magnetic fields inside the giant ITER tokamak itself.

“These two ITER projects are among the Laboratory’s most important responsibilities and the international fusion community is counting on us to deliver high-performing systems,” said Hutch Neilson, head of the ITER Fabrication Department at PPPL. “Our work in these areas builds on core PPPL strengths and, under the leadership of Russ and John, we can be confident that these projects are in good hands.”