Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Vacuum components | Shake, rattle, and... qualify!

    A public-private testing partnership certified that ITER's vacuum components can withstand major seismic events. Making sure the ITER tokamak will be safe in th [...]

    Read more

  • Feeders | Delivering the essentials

    Like a circle of giant syringes all pointing inward, the feeders transport and deliver the essentials to the 10,000-tonne ITER magnet system—that is, electrical [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | It's FAB season

    It's FAB season at ITER. Like every year since 2008, the Financial Audit Board (FAB) will proceed with a meticulous audit of the project's finances, siftin [...]

    Read more

  • Disruption mitigation | Final design review is a major step forward

    The generations of physicists, engineers, technicians and other specialists who have worked in nuclear fusion share a common goal, dedication and responsibility [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | Like grasping a bowl of cereal

    Contrary to the vast majority of ITER machine components, the modules that form the central solenoid cannot be lifted by way of hooks and attachments. The 110-t [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Port cells

All 46 doors in place

In ITER, ordinary objects and features often take on an awesome dimension. Take the doors that seal off the port cells around the Tokamak for instance. Doors they are, with hinges that attach them to their frame. But, this being ITER, they are unique: four metres wide and nearly as many in height, they are as thick as a stone wall and as heavy as a small steam locomotive.

The French-German engineering consortium Cegelec/Sommer, subcontractor to the European consortium VFR that is in charge of the construction of the Tokamak Complex, manufactured the nuclear doors and developed a custom-made lifting device dubbed the ''moped.'' (Click to view larger version...)
The French-German engineering consortium Cegelec/Sommer, subcontractor to the European consortium VFR that is in charge of the construction of the Tokamak Complex, manufactured the nuclear doors and developed a custom-made lifting device dubbed the ''moped.''
A set of 46 port cell doors will act as confinement barriers, sealing off the port cells that spoke away from the machine and shielding the environment from the radiation generated by the burning plasma. Their thick steel structure (39 tonnes) is filled on site with 7.5 cubic metres (28 tonnes) of high-density, specially formulated concrete that opposes the passage of neutrons and potential contamination.

Installation of the port cell doors in the Tokamak Building began in July 2018 and was completed just a few weeks ago, on 19 June. For close to two years, a bespoke tool dubbed the "moped" (la pétrolette) by the teams handled and manoeuvred the massive structures through the galleries inside the building, shuttling them from the concrete-filling station to their installation location.

A strange yet familiar sight, the bright red moped on yellow wheels will not be seen anymore ...

return to the latest published articles