Low temperature superconductors based on NbTi and NbSn – a component of crucial importance for the magnetic structure of experimental fission reactor ITER, being constructed in Cadarache, France. It will be with the help of our conductors that in toroidal-shaped envelope there will be established the conditions for beginning of the thermonuclear fusion controllable reaction. The plasma with the temperature as high as dozens of million degrees will be held by magnetic field. The idea of superconductors production is not that new, however it won’t lose its applicability for many years ahead.
A Hard Task
The wide-scale project was started by TVEL, a Rosatom fuel company, back in 2002, by the big team of specialists from different enterprises. They were to conduct fundamental material research, develop the technologies of special superconducting strands production, prepare design assignments for development and production of more than 120 units of equipment, including a special one, designed for the project. Besides they had to find the way to accommodate the new production within the working sections of the plant. What is so special about the project at the Chepetsk plant is that there was invented the whole cycle of the superconductor production, starting with base materials. For the sake of this three main technological sections were established at the plant: high-purity niobium production with the capacity of 100 tons a year, the production of НТ-47 superconducting homogeneous composition with the capacity of 40 tons a year, copper and bronze, superconducting strands production up to 60 tons a year.
The Team Made It
The complex research within the project framework was conducted by the All-Russian Research Institute for Inorganic Materials. Some new schemes and technologies of superconductors’ production were developed. Today they are protected by 18 patents. Superconductors at a sample stage successfully passed operation tests within current-carrying parts and wide-scale superconducting insert coils at international test beds in Switzerland, Germany and Japan. The tests confirmed the high quality of Russian product by any definition, while the cyclic load resistance proved to be higher than the world’s level. The industrial production of low-temperature superconductors was completed within a scheduled period – in 2008.
“What we have is a unique team made from employees of different enterprises. Due to their joint work we managed to meet the deadline and provide regular supplies for the ITER project today”, – says one of the participants, Sergey Zernov, Head of Department, Directorate for Technical Preparation of Production, TVEL. Today the Chepetsky plant has already supplied more than 144 tons of superconducting strands to VNIIKP, Russian producer of superconducting cables. The total expected volume of supply is 227 tons. ITER international experts acknowledged Russian production, admitting it to be one of the most up-to-date. The initial quota for NbTi superconductors supply by Russia within the ITER project was 60 tons, but eventually was doubled, which also shows the high position of the production.
New Horizons
The production in Udmurtia opens new prospects, being not only superconductors for ITER. These kinds of materials are widely used nowadays for various purposes. Thus high energy physics needs high field magnets; medicine uses magnet systems for tomographs; magnetically levitated trains are already in operation; in mining industry they use electromagnetic fusion circulation. Superconductors are also needed for aviation and space navigation. In future the specialists connect the prospects of superconductors’ development with the creation of materials of the second generation – high-temperature superconductors. Today TVEL has already prepared the base line for industrial production estimation of this kind of materials on the same ground – ChMP.
