Experimental and numerical analyses of ITER Magnet system components

ITER is the international reference project in the development of the nuclear fusion research based on the magnetic confinement. Its purpose is to achieve a stable fusion reaction (it is an experimental reactor). It is not possible for any of the know solid materials to be able to contain this plasma state. Instead, according to Lorentz’s law, a magnetic field can be used: a charged particle in a magnetic field coils around the field lines. The reactor that will allow the magnetic confinement of the plasma is called TOKAMAK. The TOKAMAK is a large toroid-shaped machine composed of various superconducting magnet system: Toroidal Field Coil (TF), Poloidal Field (PF) coil, Central Solenoid (CS) and Correction Coil (CC). The use of this complex system of superconducting magnets is a consequence of the high magnetic field necessary for the confinement of the plasma (superconductors are the only way to build magnets with a large confinement field). The construction of this important project is currently underway in Cadarache in the south of France. It is expected that the deuterium and tritium fusion experiments will start only from 2035, and from 2037 the plant will begin the shutdown phase of the expected duration of 5 years. This thesis summarizes the work done during the six months spent at ITER Organization in France. The first chapter has been based on the analyses of superconducting joints with a specific focus into post-processing AC loss energy for all TF joint SULTAN samples. The purpose of the chapter is to summarize the AC loss characterization of TF Joint SULTAN samples, a TF-TF Joint SULTAN sample. The analysis focused on TFJEU12 SULTAN sample to present the post-processing procedure and give a summary overview of all samples. The second chapter has been based on an analytical study of the Correction Coil Supports. The purpose of this work is to present a thermal and energy model of the CCs.