Manufacturing of ITER PF5 and CC Sample Conductors

The design of poloidal field (PF) coils and correction coils (CCs) for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) relies on the use of 45-kA NbTi cable-in-conduit conductors. All PF5 and CC conductors are produced in China. Research and development programs are needed to acquire knowledge on the behavior of such conductors. Since the conductors are new, full-size copper dummy conductors have been produced in advance for testing the cabling parameters, the definition of the automatic tungsten-inert-gas welding of a seamless jacket section, the elaboration of cable insertion, compaction, etc. Then, two short qualification conductor samples (the PF5 and the CC) are manufactured at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), Hefei, China, with the NbTi advanced strands produced by the Western Superconducting Technologies Company, Ltd. In this paper, the manufacturing procedures for the two PF5 and CC conductor samples are described in detail.