The integrated commissioning of three of the water-cooled chillers of 1137 TR (4 MW) capacity, supplied by India to ITER Project (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) has been completed successfully in May-June 2023 and this is a remarkable milestone towards operating cryoplant and other HVAC systems as per ITER schedule.

These chillers, key equipment of ITER Chilled Water System (CHWS), were manufactured by  Kirloskar Chillers Private Limited (KCPL) and are supported by 6.6 kV/ 140A soft starters. KCPL manufactured these chillers in 2017-18 complying to ITER site requirements including seismic qualification and CE marking and, in this process, KCPL achieved the feat of manufacturing largest chiller ever manufactured in Indian factory under ‘Make in India’.

In 2021, ITER Organization (IO) initiated the pre-commissioning checks and then it was realized to have some troubleshooting efforts before taking up the chillers for pre-commissioning. ITER-India stepped in then and engaged with the stakeholders to make sure the required activities were completed without impacting overall schedule, and also ensured that the activities were performed under the supervision of the OEM (KCPL). Presently, as the heat load from clients are not available, a temporary thermal loop had to be created to perform the commissioning. The proactive engagement of ITER-India has been continuous till the commissioning and this reiterates ITER-India’s strong commitment in meeting PA mandates.

ITER-India takes pride in this significant achievement by colleagues, particularly in CWS group and congratulates them.