News & events

MAST Upgrade's Super-X divertor is going be a world-first – and manufacturing is underway on the magnetic coils that will steer the fusion plasma into it.

The ‘divertor' is a key component which serves as an exhaust system for the plasma in tokamaks such as MAST. When MAST Upgrade goes online in 2015, Super-X is designed to reduce heat loads on the materials in the top and bottom of the machine where the hot plasma is ejected, via a longer particle exhaust path (pictured right). It will be one of the most innovative features in the £20 million upgrade project and will test whether the concept is suitable for the large tokamaks of the future.

Guiding the plasma into the heart of the Super-X divertor will be seven pairs of brand new magnetic coils. These coils are being manufactured by TESLA Engineering, based in Storrington, West Sussex – a company with a long and established history in the design and construction of magnets for various industries.

The first coil winding was completed at the beginning of 2013 and TESLA are now winding the seventh coil. All of the divertor coils are impregnated with resin in two stages before each coil is completed and ready to be delivered to CCFE. The first stage ensures that the coil integrity and quality of impregnation can be inspected. The second stage seals the coil in a welded stainless steel can that provides the vacuum boundary inside the MAST vacuum vessel.

Also of note is the arrival on site of the divertor trial jig, designed to test assembly of the complex divertor structure before the MAST vessel is brought out of the machine area for the upgrade.

CCFE's MAST Upgrade Leader Joe Milnes was delighted with progress in the divertor area of this project: “Exploitation of the new Super-X divertor will be one of the most important features of MAST-U. Seeing the first coils come off the production line is a key milestone for the project, and brings it all to life for myself and the MAST-U team.”

Back to archived news