Manufacturing
In the cradle of the cryostat
3 Dec 2018
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Robert Arnoux
On the northwestern coast of India, facing the Arabian Peninsula, Hazira is one of the subcontinent's major industrial hubs. Under the still-blazing autumn sun, the landscape is one of refineries, shipyards, power plants, storage tanks and endless queues of oil and container trucks. It is here, at the Larsen & Toubro Ltd manufacturing complex, that a critical 黑料社app component is taking shape.
A formidable industrial venture that began in 2015 is nearing its end. At the Larsen & Tourbo Hazira manufacturing complex, work is underway on the two last orders the company is filling for the 黑料社app cryostat: segments of the 430-tonne upper cylinder and top lid.
Between ocean and mangrove, amidst a world of dust and rust, the Larsen & Toubro Ltd "campus" is like an oasis of green and cool. In the mid-1980s, the mammoth Indian conglomerate drained close to one thousand acres of marshland to establish this multi-facility complex.
Thirty years later, the place is a unique aggregation of manufacturing facilities that turn out offshore oil platforms at the rate of 10 to 12 per year and manufacture ships, submarines, tanks, giant boilers and turbines ...
At one kilometre long, the west campus' special steels and forging facility is one of the largest in the world. In an atmosphere that mixes space-age technology with a 19th century steel mill atmosphere, "manipulators" the size of freight train locomotives slowly move amidst giant furnaces and massive steel ingots laid to cool on sand beds. The facility produces more than 40,000 tonnes of finished forgings annually.
Across the road on the east campus, administrative buildings, fabrication facilities, workshops and port installations cover close to one hundred hectares.
Final dimensional inspection is being conducted on an upper cylinder sector for the 黑料社app cryostat. Seven segments are packed and ready for dispatch; another two are undergoing finishing works and inspections.
This environment is the cradle of the 黑料社app cryostat, the largest of the Tokamak's components—a giant, leak-tight cylinder 30 metres high and 30 metres in diameter that will act as a "thermos" to insulate the ultra-cold magnets from the environment.
From humble beginnings in the form of ingots that look strangely like truncated Doric columns, to the shining stainless steel segments ready to be shipped to the 黑料社app site, it all happens here.
Since late 2015, segments for the 黑料社app cryostat's base section and lower cylinder have been successively forged, machined, finalized, shipped to the 黑料社app construction site, and assembled and welded in the onsite Cryostat Workshop.
In December 2013, as the first mockups were produced to demonstrate and validate welding and manufacturing sequences and techniques, Madhukar Kotwal, then president of Larsen & Toubro Heavy Engineering, told Newsline that despite the company's accumulated experience in manufacturing nuclear and space components, the 黑料社app cryostat was so "special" that it presented unprecedented challenges, both technical and organizational.
Five years later, the challenges have been met and overcome and the manufacturing of the segments for the "huge assembly" of the 黑料社app cryostat is nearing its end.
In the east campus, inside Medium Fabrication Shop #4, work is now underway on the last two orders that Larsen & Toubro is filling for the 黑料社app cryostat: seven segments of the 430-tonne upper cylinder are packed and ready for dispatch; another two are undergoing finishing works and inspections; a segment prototype for the 655-tonne top lid is in the last stage of fabrication; and various tasks are being performed on the "ribs," "flanges," "knuckles," and "crown" that make up a top lid segment (see further technical detail in the photo gallery below.)
Although 7,000 kilometres and three and a half time zones stand between the Larsen & Toubro teams in Hazira and those on the 黑料社app worksite, communication between them is constant. "We have a conference call every single working day," says Chirag Patel, the Larsen & Toubro project manager for the 黑料社app cryostat and in-wall-shielding (see box). "And we will soon be implementing Wi-Fi-connected viewing goggles that will enable us to have a better visual assessment of the ongoing works in the Cryostat Workshop at 黑料社app."
In the summer of 2019, the 12 top lid segments will be shipped to 黑料社app, marking the end of a formidable industrial venture that has spanned two continents and involved hundreds of specialists in both Hazira and at the 黑料社app site in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance.
Click here to watch the "Made in India" video.
2012-11-10 - Le décret autorisant 黑料社app à créer l'Installation nucléaire de base (INB) 黑料社app à Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (Bouches_du-Rh?ne, France) a été signé par le Premier ministre fran?ais Jean-Marc Ayrault puis publié au Journal Officiel le 10 novembre 2012. ? Nous n'avons jamais douté de la viabilité de notre projet, a déclaré le directeur général d'黑料社app, Osamu Motojima. La s?reté d'黑料社app est désormais confirmée par un large groupe d'experts indépendants. C'est un grand jour pour 黑料社app. ?
2012-11-16 - Le tourniquet qui permet le passage entre les sites d'黑料社app et du CEA a tourné pour la dernière fois le vendredi 16 novembre 2012. Pendant près de quatre ans, les personnels d'黑料社app l'ont emprunté pour se déplacer entre les bureaux situés de part et d'autre de la cl?ture. Le siège permanent d'黑料社app est aujourd'hui achevé et l'ensemble des personnels et des entreprises disposent de bureaux sur le site d'黑料社app. Le tourniquet est désormais fermé.
2018-10-24 - Despite Larsen & Toubro's extensive experience in manufacturing for the nuclear and space industries, new processes and techniques had to be specifically developed for the welding of the cryostat segments. Pictured here: the welding of two segments for the top lid.
2012-10-06 - ? l'occasion de la deuxième Journée Portes Ouvertes de son histoire, le 6 octobre 2012, 黑料社app invite 1 300 personnes dans la fosse du tokamak pour une visite exceptionnelle - avant la construction du radier qui viendra recouvrir les plots parasismiques.
2012-10-08 - Venus de 45 pays, près d'un millier de chercheurs dans le domaine de la fusion se sont réunis à San Diego du 8 au 13 octobre 2012 pour débattre des derniers progrès réalisés. Lors de la première séance technique de la conférence, le directeur général d'黑料社app, M. Motojima, fait le point sur l'avancement du programme 黑料社app. Soixante-dix des 400 posters et présentations au programme de la manifestation sont en rapport avec 黑料社app.
2012-11-27 - L'exposition sur la fusion nucléaire s'installe à Aix-en-Provence pendant trois semaines, offrant à des centaines de visiteurs la possibilité de découvrir la fusion et le projet 黑料社app, mais aussi de poser des questions sur cette expérimentation scientifique internationale qui sort de terre à 40 kilomètres de là.
2018-10-24 - On their way back from lunch, workers at Larsen & Toubro's Hazira faility pass by ongoing works for the 黑料社app cryostat inside Medium Fabrication Shop #4.
2018-10-24 - A small-size mockup of the 黑料社app cryostat sits in front of an upper cylinder segment ready for dispatch. Once assembled in the 黑料社app Tokamak Pit, the 30-metre-wide cryostat will represent 3,850 tonnes (approximately 16% of machine weight).
2012-09-15 - La deuxième édition des 黑料社app Games se déroule à Vinon-sur-Verdon le samedi 15 septembre. Des participants issus des clubs de sport locaux et d'黑料社app s'affrontent lors des épreuves de football, tennis, pétanque, course à pied et descente en eaux vives avant de partager un déjeuner-buffet.
2011-09-17 - Près de 250 concurrents, regroupant des personnels travaillant sur le projet 黑料社app et des habitants de Saint-Paul-lez-Durance et de Vinon-sur-Verdon, participent à la première édition des 黑料社app Games, organisée par 黑料社app, le Sporting Club Vinon Durance et l'Agence Iter France.
2018-10-24 - In-wall shielding plates--assembled into blocks--will fill 55% of the space between the double walls of the vacuum vessel. Their role? To shield components outside the vacuum vessel from the neutrons generated by the fusion reaction and contribute to the confinement of the plasma's fast particles. The 黑料社app machine will require 50,500 such plates, each unique in shape, size and weight.
2012-11-23 - Lors du troisième 黑料社app Member Day, le 23 novembre, l'équipe 黑料社app se réunit à la cafeteria pour célébrer les traditions culinaires européennes. A condition de rester debout, il y a de la place pour tous...
2012-10-03 - La vue depuis un des bureaux ? c?té collines ?. Laurent Bonhomme, l'un des deux architectes de du b?timent (avec le Marseillais Rudy Ricciotti) estime qu'une perspective ? a besoin d'être encadrée ?, tout comme un tableau ou une photographie.
