Preparation for the ITER central solenoid conductor manufacturing

Hamada, Kazuya; Nunoya, Yoshihiko; Isono, Takaaki; Takahashi, Yoshikazu; Kawano, Katsumi; Saito, Toru; Oshikiri, Masayuki; Uno, Yasuhiro; Koizumi, Norikiyo; Nakajima, Hideo; Matsuda, Hidemitsu*; Yano, Yoshitaka*; Devred, A.*; Libeyre, P.*; Bessette, D.*; Jewell, M.*

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has the responsibility for procurement of all of the ITER central solenoid (CS) conductor lengths. The CS conductor is composed of 576 Nb Sn superconducting strands and 288 Cu strands assembled together into a multistage cable and protected by a circle-in-square sheath tube (jacket) with the outer dimension of 49 mm. In preparation for CS conductor production, the following R&D activities have been performed; (1) Mechanical tests at 4 K have been performed for jacket candidate materials such as 316LN and JK2LB, (2) Welding test for filler selection, (3) Measurement of coefficient of sliding friction using a 100-m long dummy cable, (4) Deformation characteristics of the conductor cross section after compaction and spooling. As a result of these R&D, the CS conductor jacket manufacturing technologies have been confirmed to start the procurement of the CS conductor.