The ITER magnet system is based on the "cable-in-conduit" conductor (CICC) concept, which consists of stainless steel jackets filled with superconducting strands. The jackets provide high strength, limited fatigue crack growth rate and fracture toughness properties to counteract the high stress imposed by, among others, electromagnetic loads at cryogenic temperature. Austenitic nitrogen-strengthened stainless steels have been chosen as base material for the jackets of the central solenoid and the toroidal field system, for which an extensive set of cryogenic mechanical property data are readily available. However, little is published for their welded joints, and their specific performance when considering different combinations of parent and filler metals. Moreover, the impact of post-weld heat treatments that are required for Nb3Sn formation is not extensively treated. Welds are frequently responsible for cracks initiated and propagated by fatigue during service, causing structural failure. It becomes thus essential to select the most suitable combination of parent and filler material and to assess their performance in terms of strength and crack propagation at operation conditions. An extensive test campaign has been conducted at 7 K comparing tungsten inert gas (TIG) welds using two fillers adapted to cryogenic service, EN 1.4453 and JK2LB, applied to two different base metals, AISI 316L and 316LN. A large set of fracture toughness data are presented, and the detrimental effect on fracture toughness of post-weld heat treatments (unavoidable for some of the components) is demonstrated. In this study, austenitic stainless steel TIG welds with various filler metals have undergone a comprehensive fracture mechanics characterization at 7 K. These results are directly exploitable and contribute to the cryogenic fracture mechanics properties database of the ITER magnet system. Additionally, a correlation between the impact in fracture toughness and microstructure resulting from the above treatment is provided.

The first series components of large D-shaped toroidal field coils (TFC) on the ITER Tokamak project are being fabricated and assembled at European Fusion for Energy (F4E) and Japanese Domestic Agency (JADA) premises since 2013. The TF magnet system consists of 18 individual coils connected in series based on a Nb 3 Sn cable-in-conduit conductors supplied by a 68-kA rated current with an overall 41-GJ stored energy and a peak magnetic field of 11.8 T. One of the key challenges of the construction of the 18 TFCs and their assembly resides in the control of the integration of the large individually manufactured coil components and in the ultimate management of tolerances on the final assembly into the Tokamak pit. This paper presents the integration aspects related to main TFCs subcomponents under fabrication starting from the TF conductor production, the winding of individual double pancakes, and their heat treatment and impregnation. This includes the fabrication of key prototypes for qualification purpose such as helium supply inlets, the electrical joints, and the design of the winding pack insertion into the structural TFC case during the final welding enclosure. Each preassembled 40° sector of a TFCs pair is then integrated into the torus according to tight tolerance requirements to provide both the so-called TF magnetic center line data and to guarantee the final operating wedged design into the inner leg region. The assembly of the coil's terminal is then completed by connecting services through the power feeder busbars, the quench detection high voltage cables and the cryogenics interfaces pipe system.

During the superconducting magnet program for ITER, various cryogenic components need to be tested verifying their design. In the past a Helium inlet of the TF coil was tested under fatigue in 2005 following ASME criteria for fatigue qualification. However, this very first prototype achieved only 80% of the projected fatigue cycles. Looking at the breaking region it was concluded that an annealing of the HAZ took place during the welding process leading to a weakening of the metal possibly due to a poorly controlled weld.

The ITER organization has performed design and its validation tests on a helium inlet structure for the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) coil under collaboration with CERN, KIT, and CEA-Cadarache. Detailed structural analysis was performed in order to optimize the weld shape. A fatigue resistant design on the fillet weld between the shell covers and the jacket is an important point on the helium inlet structure. A weld filler material was selected based on tensile test at liquid helium temperature after Nb3Sn reaction heat treatment. To validate the design of the weld joint, fatigue tests at 7 K were performed using heat-treated butt weld samples. A pressure drop measurement of a helium inlet mock-up was performed by using nitrogen gas at room temperature in order to confirm uniform flow distribution and pressure drop characteristic. These tests have validated the helium inlet design. Based on the validation, Japanese and European Union domestic agencies, which have responsibilities of the TF coil procurement, are preparing the helium inlet mock-up for a qualification test.

In this paper, we will report on the manufacturing of 6 helium inlet mock-ups for the EU ITER TF coils, and on the results of the mock-up tests and other qualification activities carried out in the European industry on this subject.

The ITER Poloidal Field (PF) magnet system consists of six coils. Niobium-Titanium (NbTi) is used as superconducting material and cable-in-conduit conductor(CICC) type are used as a conductor. All coils are fabricated by stacking 6 to 9 double-pancakes wound by two-in-hand winding scheme. The six PF coils (PF1 to PF6) are attached to the Toroidal Field (TF) coil cases through flexible plates or sliding supports to allow small radial and vertical displacements. The outer diameters of the coils vary between 8 m and 24 m. Since the PF coil system provides magnetic field for plasma shaping and position control together with the Central Solenoid (CS) coil, it needs to operate in fast pulse mode, leading to induced voltages of up to 14 kV on the coil terminals during operation.