Professor Francesco Romanelli

2026-03-23 - Tandem upending tools are helping the construction teams maintain or even accelerate the schedule. Now that they are in a vertical orientation, these toroidal field coils can be transferred directly into the wings of a sector sub-assembly tool for assembly with a vacuum vessel sector.

2026-03-16 - A vacuum vessel gravity support (under the yellow rigging) is lowered into the narrow space between the cryostat wall (left) and the vacuum vessel sectors in the pit (right).

2026-03-16 - This team from SIMIC (Italy) is using muscle for the last stage of inserting a gravity support under a vacuum vessel sector in the tokamak pit. ITER and SIMIC designers devised a tool that allowed the vacuum vessel gravity support to "slide" under the sector ... with a little push.

2026-03-16 - Twice a year, the Welcome Office of Agence Iter France hosts a seminar at ITER for new employees and their families aimed at helping them navigate their new life in France—and also discover ITER!

2026-03-12 - Students enrolled in the Chinese section of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur International School (EIPACA) have received a letter directly from the pen of Chinese President Xi Jinping, wishing them well and encouraging them in their studies of Chinese language and culture. The correspondence was in reply to a letter the students, with the help of their teachers, had sent the Chinese President late last year, describing their enthusiasm for the unique studies they are undertaking in the south of France.

2026-03-09 - Vacuum vessel sector #9 arrived last week from Europe. Now, it's time to remove the housing and thermal packaging and conduct a visual inspection.

2026-03-09 - The personal stories and perspectives of women working at ITER are at the heart of an event held on Monday 9 March to mark International Women’s Day. The Women & Allies group at ITER organizes activities that inspire women and girls through events at schools and universities, as well as at ITER.

2026-03-09 - The convoluted shape of this thermal shield panel is striking. Knowing that it will fit perfectly as it is closed over part of the vacuum vessel sector, it's easy to imagine that it is designed to fit around all kinds of protrusions and openings.

2026-03-07 - A 400-tonne vacuum vessel sector (#9, from Europe) is moved inside of an ITER workshop and placed on stooling. When teams have finished with inspection and early assembly preparation work, the component will be transported across the road into the Assembly Hall (right).

2026-03-06 - Vacuum vessel sector #9 from Europe arrives on site in the early morning of Friday 6 March. This is the seventh sector (of nine) to be delivered. The final two are expected later this year.

2026-03-04 - Cherry trees line the road leading to the entrance of ITER Headquarters. This week, the blossoms opened in a celebratory sign of spring.

2026-03-04 - Work to connect the toroidal field coil superstructure is happening in tooling as well as in the pit. Here, the coils that have been closed around vacuum vessel sector #4 in tooling are being attached with intercoil structural components.

2026-03-03 - A 300-tonne, D-shaped magnet is moved by the overhead bridge cranes toward a waiting upending tool. One firmly attached within the tool frame (grey), the coil and frame will be raised to vertical.

2026-03-02 - Assembly teams are working on the connections that link ITER’s toroidal field coils into a unified structure engineered to withstand extreme electromagnetic forces. In this photo, intercoil structures are used to connect two toroidal field coils from adjacent sector modules in the pit.