Manufacturing progress on the first sector and lower ports for ITER vacuum vessel

Highlights: • All manufacturing drawings of the first sector of VV have been completed. • Full scale mock-ups have been constructed to verify fabrication procedure. • Qualifications for welding and forming are done and for NDE are ongoing. • Manufacturing progress is around 40% for the sector and LPSE up to the end of 2015. - Abstract: Manufacturing design of Korean sectors and ports for the ITER Vacuum Vessel (VV) has been developed to comply with the tight tolerance and severe inspection requirements. The first VV sector and lower ports are being fabricated slowly under strict regulations after verification using several real scale mock-ups and qualifications for welding, forming and NDE. During three years after start of fabrication, manufacturing progress on four poloidal segments of the first sector is that (1) all inner shells were welded, (2) forgings for complicate components have been machined, (3) port stubs and poloidal T-ribs were assembled, and (4) machined components are welded on the inner shells by narrow-gap TIG welding and electron beam welding. The progress of lower ports is that (1) inner shells of stub extensions were bent and treated with heat, (2) T-ribs were fabricated and examined by qualified phased array UT, (3) supporting pads and gussets have been machined, and (4) inner shells are assembled with T-ribs and machined forgings. The progress rate of manufacturing is around 40% up to the end of 2015 for the first sector and lower port stub extensions.