HD Hyundai completes 440-tonne reactor assembly for ITER nuclear project

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) completed the assembly of the vacuum vessel for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) on Wednesday, 22 July, marking a critical technical phase for the world’s largest nuclear fusion project. The completion was announced during 'KOREA-ITER Fusion Day' at the ITER construction site in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France. The South Korean industrial giant finished the assembly of Sector 6, a massive structural component designed to contain the high-temperature plasma required for fusion. The sector module stands 13.8 metres high and weighs approximately 440 tonnes. As the lead contractor, HHI managed the integration of the vacuum vessel with silver-coated thermal shields and toroidal field coils, maintaining a precision tolerance of less than 2 millimetres across the 400-tonne structure. Precision engineering for fusion energy Nuclear fusion aims to replicate the energy production process of the sun, requiring magnetic confinement of plasma at temperatures exceeding 150 million degrees Celsius. The vacuum vessel serves as the primary containment barrier. HHI was tasked with providing nine sectors for the vessel. This latest assembly confirms the feasibility of integrating mega-scale components with high-precision specifications, a requirement for the project's long-term operational safety. The ITER project is a collaborative international effort involving seven members: the European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea,…