ITER's Central Solenoid, the central magnet that will drive the current in the ITER plasma, will be constructed by the United States using conductor lengths delivered by Japan. Completed central solenoid components will be shipped and assembled on-site in Cadarache by the ITER Organization before final installation of the central magnet inside the tokamak device. Several important steps were made recently on the road toward the construction of this key component.

Following a call for tender launched late last year, in July US ITER awarded the contract for the manufacture of the Central Solenoid (CS) modules to the San Diego-based firm General Atomics, well-known in fusion world for hosting the DIII-D Tokamak. The manufacturing of the modules is planned to start in 2014, with delivery of the first module in 2016.

The CS Preliminary Design Review, another prerequisite to manufacturing, was hosted by US ITER in Oak Ridge on 20-22 September. Developments in the design carried out since the Conceptual Design Review held in October 2009 were presented to the review panel. Chaired by Michel Huguet, former director of the Naka site during the ITER Engineering Design Activities phase, the review panel including magnet experts from Europe, Russia, Japan, China and the US. The panel praised the quality of presentations prepared by Wayne Reiersen's team (US ITER) and appreciated a visit to the nearby Scale 1 wooden engineering mock-up of the upper and lower parts of the CS. Although the report from the Preliminary Design Review has not yet been finalized, the way toward final design is now open.

Following the award of the CS manufacturing contract, General Atomics began forming a team that will be led by John Smith and that will include some members involved in the CS Model Coil manufacture in the 1990s. In the city of Poway, near San Diego, a building was purchased to host the manufacturing line for the CS modules. On 26 September, ITER Organization and US ITER representatives met in San Diego at the General Atomics site to review and discuss the manufacturing procedure planned by General Atomics engineers. A visit to the CS module construction building was arranged for the visitors.