L&T delivers single section of world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor.

The 1250-MT cryostat base manufactured by L&T Heavy Engineering - the single largest section of the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor - was successfully lifted and placed into a reactor building in France, the company said in a statement.

Anil V Parab, executive vice-president and head, L&T Heavy Engineering, said, “ITER is a first of its kind futuristic global project. The cryostat is the largest vacuum vessel ever built with 29.4 meter in diameter, 29 meter in height weighing 3,850 MT. Successful delivery of such complex projects is ingrained in L&T’s culture.”

The cryostat forms the vacuum-tight container surrounding the reactor vacuum vessel and the superconducting magnets, and acts essentially as a very large refrigerator. The reactor base — the single largest and heaviest Tokamak component of the world’s largest stainless-steel, high-vacuum, pressure chamber cryostat — will eventually contain the rest of the reactor.

L&T has also already delivered the lower cylinder of the cryostat in March 2019 and upper cylinder in March 2020. The final part, the top lid sectors, will be dispatched from Hazira in July 2020. The project scope for the heavy engineering division of L&T is divided into three parts: First, manufacturing and shipping of all sub-assembly sections from L&T Hazira, Gujarat; then constructing a temporary workshop at the project site in France for assembling the cryostat sections into large assemblies; and lastly to integrate the cryostat inside the Tokamak Reactor building.

L&T’s Heavy Engineering business won the prestigious contract in 2012. ITER India, a wing of the Department of Atomic Energy, is the overall in-charge of the Indian participation for this mega scientific project.

THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS