HD Hyundai's Nuclear Fusion Heart (ITER) Enters Final Assembly Phase

*This content was translated by AI.

With the completion of the final assembly of the last vacuum vessel sector module for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), in which HD Hyundai Heavy Industries participated, the realization of future nuclear fusion energy has come one step closer.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries announced that it attended the 'KOREA-ITER Fusion Day' event held on the 22nd local time at the ITER construction site in Cadarache, southern France. The event was attended by approximately 150 participants, including officials from the Ministry of Science and ICT, domestic companies and research institutions, institutional investors, and representatives from the ITER International Organization. During the event, the current status of ITER construction and Korea's major procurement achievements were shared, and international cooperation strategies in the field of nuclear fusion were discussed.

This event was held to commemorate the assembly of the last vacuum vessel sector module produced by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for ITER, which was combined with the heat shield and superconducting magnets to form a sector module. This sector module has been moved to the tokamak pit for final assembly and is scheduled to be completed as a donut-shaped vacuum vessel weighing approximately 5,000 tons after being combined with eight other sector modules.

ITER is an international project in which seven member countries, including South Korea and the European Union (EU), along with the United States, Japan, China, Russia, and India, are jointly constructing the world's largest nuclear fusion experimental reactor in Cadarache, France.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries manufactured four of the nine total vacuum vessel sectors that make up ITER. After securing orders for two sectors allocated to South Korea in 2010, it additionally secured orders for two more sectors allocated to the European Union in 2016, delivering all units by 2024.

The vacuum vessel is a core component of ITER that encloses ultra-high-temperature plasma exceeding 100 million degrees and maintains an ultra-high vacuum environment. Despite being a massive structure measuring 11.3 meters in height, 6.6 meters in width, and weighing approximately 400 tons per sector, each sector requires a high level of manufacturing precision to ensure precise assembly.

An HD Hyundai representative told this newspaper via telephone, "HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will continue to contribute to the realization of sustainable energy for future generations based on its accumulated technology and experience."

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was responsible for designing the main structural components of the Korean-type nuclear fusion research device (KSTAR), completed in 2007, and participated in establishing South Korea's nuclear fusion research foundation by manufacturing key facilities such as the large ultra-high vacuum vessel and cryogenic vessel.

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*This content was translated by AI.