F4E and VTT advance remote handling solutions for ITER

Assembling and maintaining ITER, the massive fusion reactor made up of around one million components, will rely on advanced robotics to access areas where humans cannot. Remote handling systems will work in the heart of the device to manipulate some of its parts in a safe and precise manner. One of these operations will take place at the lower part of the vacuum vessel. There, a set of special tools will be dedicated to transporting, positioning and extracting the 54 cassettes that make up the divertor. This component forms a doughnut-shaped ‘ashtray’ that will collect exhaust gases and impurities and will face extreme heat loads. For this reason, the cassettes will need to be replaced periodically. This means carrying the 10-tonne components through the tight spaces of the port while staying within millimetric routes. Europe, responsible for ITER’s divertor remote handling system, is investing in cutting-edge robotics to perform such delicate manoeuvre. Since 2008, Fusion for Energy (F4E) has been collaborating with VTT to develop its key technologies. The Finnish research centre, based in Tampere, built the Divertor Test Platform (DTP2) for this purpose, including a full-scale mock-up of a cassette. Last year, the F4E team travelled there to witness a flawless drill of some of the systems. This partnership will continue thanks to a new grant signed by both entities this week. The three-year agreement includes an updated scope of tasks, linked to the revised baseline of...