The ST40 IVC1 divertor project: Procurement and installation in times of COVID-19

Abstract Tokamak Energy’s ST40 spherical tokamak, operating in a double null diverted configuration, has a design basis of toroidal field Bt = 3 T on-axis (R = 40 cm), and plasma current Ip = 2MA. The procurement and installation of the top and bottom divertors for installation into ST40 was anticipated to be completed on a quick timescale of approximately ten weeks. The difficulties inherent in a tight deadline were exacerbated by the necessary social distancing measures introduced to combat the global crisis of COVID-19. This paper describes the procurement and installation of the divertors, the design is described in the sister paper [1], authored by Daniel Iglesias.