'Geureut' of Artificial Sun Completed Domestically After Over 10 Years

Hyundai Heavy Industries engineers are manufacturing the ITER vacuum vessel.

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A part of the vacuum vessel, a core component of nuclear fusion power generation?dubbed the "artificial sun" and attracting attention as the next-generation energy source?has been completed domestically. This component withstands ultra-high-temperature plasma exceeding 100 million degrees generated by nuclear fusion and creates a high vacuum environment, marking a remarkable achievement leading the era of nuclear fusion power generation. The National Fusion Research Institute held a commemorative ceremony on the 20th at Ulsan Hyundai Heavy Industries to celebrate this accomplishment.

The completed part is the sixth sector of the vacuum vessel, a key item of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) device. The vacuum vessel is a structure located at the innermost part of the fusion reactor, serving as a "container" that endures the nuclear fusion reaction emitting ultra-high-temperature plasma. It also functions as the primary radiation shielding wall that blocks neutrons generated during the fusion process and serves as a platform that precisely secures major inner wall components of the fusion reactor such as the blanket and divertor.

This structure is manufactured in a double-walled form made of special stainless steel with a three-dimensional shape. When fully assembled, it forms a donut-shaped structure weighing approximately 5,000 tons. It is divided into nine sectors, and the completion of the sixth sector is essential before assembling the other sectors.

The National Fusion Research Institute and Hyundai Heavy Industries have overcome numerous technical challenges over the past decade to achieve this completion. Han Young-seok, President of Hyundai Heavy Industries, responsible for manufacturing the vacuum vessel, said, "I am truly pleased to have successfully completed the production of vacuum vessel sector 6 after overcoming many technical limitations. We will do our best to procure the remaining three sectors on schedule and contribute to the successful construction of ITER."

Besides the four sectors handled by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the remaining five sectors are being manufactured by the European Union. The completed sixth sector will be transported to France in mid-next month. When sector 6 arrives at the ITER construction site in Cadarache, France, in early July, the full-scale assembly of the ITER device will begin.

Hyundai Heavy Industries engineers are manufacturing the ITER vacuum vessel.

Bernard Bigot, ITER Director-General, stated through a video, "Successfully completing vacuum vessel sector 6 despite numerous challenges is a true victory achieved through the cooperation of Korea and the global vacuum vessel team. I appreciate the crucial role played by Korea’s industry-academia-research collaboration and the strong support from the Korean government in advancing the ITER project."

Jung Ki-jung, Head of the ITER Korea Project Group, said, "We will continue to work with domestic industries for the successful construction of ITER and take the lead in developing humanity’s new future energy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.