How fusion is teaching AI new tricks at ITER

2026-05-13 - The rotation took just under 12 hours, beginning at dawn on 13 May and concluding shortly before 6 p.m.

2026-05-13 - Sector #3, as it is flipped over to expose its second side.

2026-05-12 - Only a few days after its arrival at ITER, vacuum vessel sector #3 has been positioned under a gantry crane for an outdoor "flip" operation that will expose its second side. By avoiding the use of tooling in the Assembly Hall for this operation, days are saved against the assembly schedule.

2026-05-12 - The self-propelled modular transporter is taking vacuum vessel sector #3 outdoors, where it will be rotated under a gantry crane to expose its second side for bevel repair.

2026-05-07 - A vacuum vessel sector, still in its protective transport housing, is framed by the open doors of the Cleaning Facility as it is transported to the workshop across the way. Only one more sector is expected to arrive later this year.

2026-05-07 - Vacuum vessel sector #3 is brought into the former Cryostat Workshop, where the protective housing will be removed and the component will be prepped for a "flip" operation later this week to expose its un-repaired side.

2026-05-07 - Vacuum vessel sector #3 (left, in housing) is the second-to-last sector required for the ITER tokamak. On its arrival, Thursday 7 May, it is parked outdoors near the upper cylinder of the cryostat (right).

2026-05-07 - European vacuum vessel sector #3 has arrived on the ITER site. This is the fourth sector delivered by the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy, and the eighth to reach ITER overall.

2026-05-06 - One batch of side correction coils has arrived on site from China and another is expected later this month. Visual inspection is underway.

2026-05-05 - The team responsible for transferring the 440 tonnes of vacuum vessel sector #6 from its overhead radial beam to the concrete crown that distributes loads under the machine celebrates a first-of-a-kind operation that must be repeated eight more times.

2026-05-05 - In a significant assembly milestone, vacuum vessel sector #6 has been successfully "landed" on its gravity support. This first-of-its-kind operation means the load of the vacuum vessel sector (440 tonnes) has been “decoupled” from the central column and bioshield wall and is now being fully supported from underneath.

2026-05-06 - From the control room, the ITER teams have initiated the cooldown to 4 K (-269 °C) of the ITER magnet cold test facility. D-shaped coil TF07 is the first toroidal field coil to be tested.

2026-05-05 - The European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy and its contractor ALSYMEX have completed the assembly and factory tests of the MITICA beam source, composed of a radio frequency ion source and a seven-grid extractor and accelerator. This is the central component of the MITICA testbed at the ITER Neutral Beam Facility in Padua, Italy—a full-scale prototype of ITER's heating neutral beam injector.

2026-05-04 - This strut has been specially designed to prevent backwards sliding as the weight of vacuum vessel sector #6 is fully transferred to its gravity support—an operation that will take place later this week. Other stability clamps have been installed near the top of the sector.