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Also in this issue

  • Th six-metre-tall structure currently on the shop floor in Ulsan is only the small upper segment of one of the nine ITER vacuum vessel sectors.

    Far from ITER, in the heart of the Tokamak

    In ITER Member factories on three continents, manufacturing has begun for the components of the ITER Tokamak. Here's a look inside the Hyundai shipyard in Korea where two of the nine ITER vacuum vessel sectors are under construction. [...]

    Read more

  • Welcome to the machine!

    Tokamak: the name is an acronym from the Russian 'toroidal chamber, magnetic coils.' It describes a type of particularly efficient fusion machine that was deve [...]

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  • Six years after the 9 November 1991 shot that produced fusion energy for the first time in history, JET achieved a record of 16 MW that still holds to this day. Pictured in this 1997 photograph are  Martin Keilhacker (right), at the time JET director, and his his two deputies (center) Alan Gibson and Jean Jacquinot.

    The DT shots heard 'round the world

    Reproducing in a man-made machine the physical reactions that occur at the core of the Sun has been the aim of fusion research for the past 60 years. Building [...]

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  • At approximately 4:00 a.m. on 20 September, the ITER test convoy crosses the roundabout in front of the ITER site.

    A successful journey ... to be replicated 200 times

    [...]

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  • At ITER, men and women of some 30 nations are inventing, day after day, a unique form of collaboration—one that serves science as much as it serves peace.

    Serving science, serving peace

    ITER has always been more than an international research project. When in the early 1980s scientists urged for the construction of a large machine that would d [...]

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  • On this elevated 42-hectare platform in southern France, 35 nations are pooling their resources to build ITER.

    Where are we at?

    On a vast plot of land in southern France, the ITER scientific installation is taking shape. Let's take stock of construction progress, three years after works began. [...]

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Mag Archives

Who does what?

ITER Organization, the seven Domestic Agencies set up by the ITER Members, CEA's Agence Iter France all work together to realize the ITER experimental installation that will open the way to the industrial and commercial exploitation of fusion energy. (Click to view larger version...)
ITER Organization, the seven Domestic Agencies set up by the ITER Members, CEA's Agence Iter France all work together to realize the ITER experimental installation that will open the way to the industrial and commercial exploitation of fusion energy.
The ITER Project and its division of tasks between multiple actors can be confusing. Below are some elements of response to the question: "Who does what at ITER?"

ITER Organization (IO) is responsible for the design of the ITER Tokamak and its auxiliary systems. The ITER Organization will be responsible for machine installation and assembly, beginning in 2015, and operations, beginning in 2020. Like other international organizations such as Unesco or the World Health Organization, the ITER Organization was established by international treaty. On 21 November 2006 in Paris, France, the seven ITER Members signed the ITER Agreement. On site in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, ITER directly employs approximately 500 staff members representing 30 nationalities.

Domestic Agencies (DAs) were created by each ITER Member. There is thus an ITER Domestic Agency in China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, the United States and Europe (the European Domestic Agency is located in Barcelona, Spain). These agencies, on behalf of their governments, are charged with procuring the ITER components, systems or buildings that fall under each Member's procurement responsibilities to ITER. Europe, with the largest percent of the Project, contributes 45 % (including nearly all site buildings), while each of the other Members contributes 9 %. The reason for this disparity is that Europe, as Host to the ITER Project, benefits from the largest amount of economic impact.

Agence Iter France (AIF) is an agency of the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA). Created to manage the French financial contribution to ITER, it supervised the clearing and levelling activities for the ITER site (2007-2009) and the public works on the ITER Itinerary. It collects the contributions pledged to ITER by local governments and plays a role in welcoming international ITER staff members and their families. Agence Iter France is the interface between the ITER Project and French authorities and in this capacity oversees, for example, the organization of ITER component transport. It has also organized land acquisition measures to compensate for the clearing of the ITER site. When the ITER Project has come to the end of 20 years of operation in the early 2040s, Agence Iter France will be in charge of site decommissioning and dismantling.