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Inside the cold factory
23 Sep 2019
Pipes and tanks of all sizes and colours, valves, compressors, truck-size electrical motors, zeppelin-like gas bags, puzzling contraptions evocative of sea monsters ... the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ cryoplant is a world of industrial strangeness. The installation is unique, larger than any in the world and tasked with a daunting mission: to provide cooling fluids to 10,000 tonnes of superconducting magnets, eight massive cryopumps, and thousands of square metres of thermal shielding. As high as a seven-storey building and the size of two soccer fields, the cryoplant is but part of the massive industrial infrastructure required to operate °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ. On the 42-hectare °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ platform, it takes close to 40 buildings, accommodating dozens of different plant systems, to light the little star inside the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Tokamak.
Scroll through the gallery below for more information on the mechanical installation activities underway now.