ITER is a vast and ambitious long-term project based in southern France with the goal of confirming the viability of fusion as a sustainable source of power for generations to come.
With over a million components to be assembled, the final machine must meet the complex design parameters, within exacting tolerances, on a project that brings together particle physics and real-world engineering.
Cooperation between Hexagon and the ITER team goes back to the project’s very beginnings in 2007 and was formalized in 2020, as the project entered its long-awaited assembly stage, with the inauguration of a preferred supplier agreement.
The initial assembly phase of the project, to deliver First Plasma, requires an utmost focus on precision, and under the agreement, Hexagon became the main avenue of Metrology support for the ITER central team and its principal contractors.
A wide range of Hexagon metrology hardware has been deployed at the ITER site in France, as well as at dozens of contractor locations around the world, with the Absolute Tracker product range widely deployed across various measurements and assembly applications.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Dave Wilson, leader of the ITER metrology group, about how his team have been applying Hexagon measurement solutions to ensure the accurate construction of one of the world’s most exciting energy research projects.
Here is a link directly to that conversation; https://hexagon.com/resources/resource-library/the-importance-of-metrology-when-harnessing-the-power-of-the-sun
And a 2nd link to how Hexagon products play many vital roles in constructing one of the world’s first nuclear fusion reactors at ITER in France.
In the site’s massive Assembly Hall, the direct scanning Leica Absolute Tracker ATS600 laser tracker is used to ensure the correct alignment and construction of the nine reactor subassemblies as they are prepared for installation within the Tokamak Pit.
The ability to measure with metrology-grade accuracy direct from the tracker, with no need for a probe, reflector or handheld scanner, makes the ATS600 a uniquely capable solution for this ultra-large-scale project.