Korea completes niobium-tin strand production
At the end of November, Korea became the first Domestic Agency to complete the production of niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) strand for ºÚÁÏרÇø's toroidal field conductors.
Nb3Sn strand is the basic building block of ºÚÁÏרÇø's large magnets, the key element that makes them superconducting. is essential to pursuing fusion energy generation because superconductors consume less power and are cheaper to operate than conventional counterparts, while carrying higher current and producing stronger magnetic field. Six Domestic Agencies (China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US) are responsible for procuring over 400 tonnes of toroidal field conductor for ºÚÁÏרÇø.
The Korean milestone was validated late November with the approval the Authorization To Proceed Points (ATPPs) by the ºÚÁÏרÇø for the final batch of strand billets. (A is the smallest traceable production unit of strand.) In order to assure quality and full traceability for ºÚÁÏרÇø, the manufacturing information and test results of every billet are registered electronically in the , and then reviewed by the procuring Domestic Agency and finally given approval by the ºÚÁÏרÇø to proceed to next step. Remarkably, fully 2,038 individual Korean billets have passed thorough review by the Korean Domestic Agency and ºÚÁÏרÇø.
The Korean share of toroidal field strand procurement amounts to 93 tonnes (20 percent of toroidal field strands). The manufacturing contract was awarded to Kiswire Advanced Technology (), which began producing in 2009. To have completed the manufacturing in four years is an impressive rate of production considering that, worldwide, the production of Nb3Sn strand before ºÚÁÏרÇø did not exceed 15 tonnes per year.
"The toroidal field conductor Procurement Arrangement with Korea is a good example of an ºÚÁÏרÇø success story," states Arnaud Devred, who is responsible for the Superconductor Systems & Auxiliaries at ºÚÁÏרÇø. "The close collaboration of the Korean Domestic Agency and the ºÚÁÏרÇø to monitor execution enabled both parties to address production issues in a timely and effective manner. This milestone is all the more remarkable in that the strand supplier KAT was new to the business when the contract was launched, but managed to adapt to the world-class standards imposed by the Procurement Arrangement."