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In order to achieve and maintain the proper cryogenic conditions for fusion experiments, the ITER Cryogenic System has to cope with various operation modes as per the requirements of the superconducting (SC) magnets and the 4 K Cryopumps (CPs). The refrigerators, source of the cooling power, should operate as much as possible in a quasisteady- state manner for efficiency and reliability reasons, and also to optimize their cooling capacity. The cryogen-related transients generated or required by the magnets and CPs therefore have to be managed and smoothed inside the primary helium loops of the Cryodistribution (CD) cold boxes which distribute and recover the cooling flows. In this proceeding we will propose the internal-component layouts of the ITER CD cold boxes and demonstrate in terms of operation modes how they fulfill the duties of the Cryogenic System with respect to the ITER Tokamak. The methods foreseen for the smoothing of the cryogenic loads and optimization of the cooling power requirements will also be introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ITER cryogenic system will have to cope with substantial dynamic heat loads due to the magnetic field variation and the production of neutrons generated by the fusion reactions. This will induce large pressure variations in the primary cooling loop of the superconducting coils, which results in the large power variation to the helium refrigerator. The HELIOS test facility, developed at CEA-Grenoble, and initially designed to study the pulse mitigation of the JT-60SA central solenoid cooling circuit (in order to smooth the pulsed load and test components), was adapted to the ITER cooling loop requirements. This paper presents the experimental results concerning the specific ITER analysis. We reproduce experimentally the pressure variation of the Central Solenoid (CS) loop predicted by a numerical model, and observe the behaviour of the circulating pump in these conditions. The investigations of the heat load smoothing methods, using the circuit of Toroidal Field Structures, such as the pulse mitigation by temporary by-pass of the flow of the Structure cooling loop, and variation of the speed of the cold circulating pump, are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]