They are big, powerful and their design represents cutting-edge technology: ITER's Toroidal Field Coils are designed to store a total magnetic energy of 41 gigajoules and generate a maximum magnetic field of 11.8 tesla. The coils will be wound from 83 km of Cable-In-Conduit superconductors and the total weight of the TF magnet system will be 6480 tons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been closely involved with the ITER project since the very beginning, providing its auspices and practical support during cooperation and negotiation phases. On 13 October, 2008, the Deputy Director-General of the IAEA, Yury Sokolov, and the Director-General of the ITER Organization, Kaname Ikeda, officially sign a Cooperation Agreement emphasizing the close working relationship of the two international organizations.

With the start of the site levelling works, the ITER project has attracted more and more media from around the world. Here, a group of journalists views a mockup of the future ITER facilities.

The ITER Director-General, Kaname Ikeda, and his Excellency the Minister of the Principality of Monaco, Monsieur Jean Paul Proust, sign a Partnership Arrangement on 16 January 2008 that includes a contribution by the Principality of 5.5 million euros for a ten-year period. The donation will be used to set up five Postdoctoral Fellowships and to establish an annual International Conference of ITER-related research. The agreement was signed in the Ministerial Palace in the presence of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II.

The ITER site in April 2007. Preparatory works under the supervision of Agence ITER France include erecting a temporary fence and clearing trees from 75 hectares of land.

Inspection of the Coil Terminal Box mockup at the institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China. The Coil Terminal Boxes provide housing for connection of the ITER magnet systems with the Cryoplant, the Power Supplies and the Data Acquisition System.

The governing body of the ITER Organization -- the ITER Council -- convenes in Cadarache for its third meeting, 19 November 2008.

Once upon a time... Spring 2007. A pole marks the place where the ITER Tokamak will stand as clearing works begin on the construction site.

Site preparation works in full swing. By July, 2008, one million cubic metres of earth had been moved.

The US ITER Project Office is hosted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee with partner labs Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory.

Saving the trees and the bees... The technique of 'tree-buddying' gives insects living in a felled tree the chance to migrate to a new habitat.

India becomes the seventh ITER Member in December 2005. The Institute for Plasma Research, located in Gandhinagar, western India, is home to the Indian Domestic Agency for ITER.

Russian scientists invented a new type of magnetic fusion device in the 1960s and called it a 'tokamak' or 'toroidal chamber with magnetic coils'. In 2008, the Russian ITER team gathers in front of the Kurchatov Institute, Moscow.

The Korean ITER team moves into new office space in Daejeon, June 2008.

From drawing board to reality -- the ITER Design Office provides the tools.

Working together for fusion: The ITER team in February 2008.

Inaugurating the ITER Joint Work Site in Cadarache, February 2006.

Fusion is the energy that powers the sun and other stars. On Earth, fusion power has the potential to make a large-scale contribution to a future sustainable energy supply. If successfully developed, fusion can deliver safe and environmentally benign energy, using abundant and widely available fuel, without the production of greenhouse gases.

Snow on the ITER construction site, January 2009.

It happens once every 10-15 years: 25 centimetres of snow in Provence. Hiroshi Matsumoto and Mingxing Su take the rare opportunity to build a Provençal snowman, January 2009.

Known as the 'fourth state of matter', a plasma is a substance in which many of the atoms or molecules are ionized, allowing charges to flow freely. Ionized means that at last one electron is free to move and is not bound to an atom or molecule. The picture shows a plasma produced inside the French Tokamak Tore Supra.

The Joint European Torus (JET) in Culham, UK, is currently the largest operating fusion device in the world. It came to life with its first plasma on 25 June 1983. In 1997, JET achieved the world record in fusion power production (16MW).

For the benefit of mankind... Ministers from the seven ITER Members sign the ITER Agreement at the Elysée Palace in Paris, France, 21 November 2006.

The ITER site in January 2009 looking north. The levelling of the 80-hectare platform is nearly finished, and the new visitor centre has opened (far left).

The ITER Organization formally enters into force, 24 October 2007. As there can be no birthday without a cake, Shaoqi Wang, ITER Deputy Director-General for Administration, lends a hand with slicing.

A wide-angle lens is required for the ITER family photo in November 2008, with a team of 293 staff, plus subcontractors.

Rock-crushers and huge scrapers dominate the scene on the ITER site in summer 2008. The construction project for the world's biggest fusion device is well underway.

ITER is a unique working environment with people from many nations and cultures coming together to form one team.

The long-anticipated moment... François Gauché, Director of Agence ITER France; Kaname Ikeda, ITER Director-General; and Didier Gambier, Director of European Domestic Agency Fusion For Energy (left to right) opening the new ITER Headquarters building, 20 November 2008.

The water-cooled Divertor is one of the main features of the ITER machine. In effect, it acts as a giant exhaust pipe. The Divertor will control the exhaust of waste gas and impurities from the fusion chamber. The Divertor is subject to the highest heat loads within the Vacuum Vessel: its surface materials must be able to withstand extreme heat and neutron radiation.

The ITER Divertor consistes of a cassette body made up of 54 remotely-removable cassettes that facilitate maintenance. In total, the structure will weigh 700 tons. Each cassette weighs 9-10 tons and holds three plasma-facing components--the inner and outer targets, and the dome.

The ITER Vacuum Vessel will be the biggest fusion furnace ever built. It will be twice as large and three times as heavy as any previously-manufactured fusion vessel: each of the nine torus-shaped sectors will weigh about 450 tons. With the shielding and port structures included, this adds up to a total of 5116 tons. It will measure 19.4 metres across by 11.3 metres high, and have an internal diameter of 6.5 metres.

An interesting view inside the Coil Terminal Box mockup--the housing for the connection of the ITER magnet systems with the Cryoplant--produced at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China.

Visitors to the ITER stand, situated on the exact future location of the ITER Tokamak. Under the clear blue skies, some 350 CEA Cadarache staff, families, and friends were welcomed to the ITER site during an open-house day, 15 October 2006.

Lessons to be learned from the past... An archeological survey is carried out by INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives) prior to the commencement of groundwork. Great care has been taken to minimize the environmental impact of construction works on the ITER site.

The exceptional size and weight of some of the Tokamak components have made large-scale public works necessary to widen roads, reinforce bridges and modify intersections on the way to Cadarache.

ITER will be equipped with a Cooling Water System that will remove heat from the Tokamak vessel, and also cool down the diagnostics and the heating system, the power supply, and the cryogenic system. It is separated into two closed heat transfer circuits plus a Cooling Tower open circuit.

Members of the ITER Vacuum and Cryogenics Groups posing in front of the new Chinese tokamak EAST, April 2008.

Upon completion, the 180-hectare ITER site in Cadarache will comprise 32 buildings, including offices and a Welcome Centre for visitors.

The ITER Headquarters Agreement is signed by Valérie Pécresse, French Minister for Higher Education and Research, and Kaname Ikeda, Director-General Nominee of the ITER Organization, 7 November 2007. The Agreement sets out the terms of cooperation between the ITER Organization and the French authorities, in particular compliance with French regulations related to public safety and security, environmental protection, nuclear safety and radiological protection.

Agence ITER France surveying what is to become the ITER construction site.

An artist's impression of the future ITER machine.

Sunset over the ITER site, December 2008.