Results of the international large coil task: a milestone for superconducting magnets in fusion power

Abstract

The aim of the Large Coil Task (LCT) was to demonstrate the reliable operation of large superconducting toroidal field (TF) coils and to prove the design principles and fabrication techniques to be applied for the magnets in a tokamak experimental power reactor. This has been achieved by an outstanding international development effort during more than ten years of cooperation within an IEA agreement. Parties were the US DOE, EURATOM, JAERI and the Swiss government. Six different D-shaped test coils were separately designed, developed and constructed by the LCT participants, then extensively tested together in a compact toroidal array. The ORNL acted for DOE as the LCT operating agent, building and operating the required test facility. The US also provided three test coils; the other three participants one coil each. Detailed information on coil design and manufacture and all test data were shared among the LCT participants. After facility shakedown operations and preliminary coil tests, the full six-coil array tests were carried out in a continuous period from the beginning of 1986 until September 1987. Beside the originally planned tests to reach an 8 T design point performance, the tests went well beyond this goal, reaching 9 T peak field in each coil. The experiments also delineated the limits of operability and demonstrated the coil safety under abnormal conditions. For fusion application the transient a.c. field behaviour in the coils was also of great interest. Three of the coils have been tested in this respect and showed excellent performance, with loss values in agreement with the theoretical predictions. At the time of International Experimental Reactor (ITER) activities, it might be worthwhile to mention that LCT demonstrated an effective multinational collaboration in an advanced technology project, involving large scale hardware produced in several countries then assembled and operated as a tightly integrated system.