SOUTH KOREA COMPLETES FIRST SECTION OF VACUUM VESSEL

摘要

The first of seven sections of the vacuum vessel for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) under construction in southern France has been produced in South Korea and is being prepared for shipping. The vacuum vessel is a 5,000-tonne steel chamber designed to house the world's first reactor-scale fusion plasma at Iter. Iter said that according to its machine assembly plan, section number six of the vacuum vessel, manufactured by Hyundai Heavy Industries, will be shipped to Iter's Cadarache site followed by section number seven, which is also being manufactured by Hyundai Heavy Industries and is more than 90% complete. Europe is providing the other five vacuum vessel sections. Europe is contributing almost half of the €20 billion cost of Iter's construction. The other six members of the venture - China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US - are contributing equally to the rest.