iterorganization 179d ago

In the recently commissioned magnet cold test facility at ITER, several D-shaped toroidal field coils will be tested at their operating temperature of 4 K (minus 269 degrees Celsius). At 4 K, the winding inside the coil becomes superconducting, which allows operators to circulate a strong electrical current and generate an intense magnetic field. While parameters inside the test facility do not completely reproduce the conditions the coil will face during the machine operation, they come close enough to enable a partial but real-scale commissioning of the tokamak's magnetic system.