ITER and industry push robotics into new territory

2026-05-29 - Assembly teams are completing final activities on the sixth and last module of the tower-like central solenoid magnet while it is still positioned on its transport platform, before it is moved later this month to the top of the stack. In this picture, they are applying insulating tape to the busbar lead extensions that will feed electrical current to the magnets.

2026-05-28 - On the top floor of the Radiofrequency Building, in the gyrotron hall, the first three gyrotrons procured by Russia have been installed. Gyrotrons are the wave-producing devices of the electron cyclotron heating system.

2026-05-28 - On 28 May, structural engineer Darren Williams (right) found himself rather unexpectedly touring the ITER site—and crossing the path of ITER Director-General Barabaschi (centre)—only days after winning a prize giveaway from The B1M, a video construction channel. The event was part of the promotion for a new book "Mega Builds, Ten Colossal Construction Projects That Will Change Our World" by channel founder Fred Mills (left).

2026-05-28 - The extraction of the sector module from tooling is a pivotal moment in a lift operation.

2026-05-28 - A team member from the CNPE Consortium, the international industrial partnership that is the principal contractor for tokamak assembly, monitors the sector as it is lowered into the pit.

2026-05-27 - Five sector modules are now in the ITER tokamak pit. Vacuum vessel sector module #4 was installed in an overnight operation from 26 to 27 May 2026.

2026-05-27 - With the fifth sector module in place, 200 degrees of the plasma chamber are now in position.

2026-05-27 - The sector module nears the end of its 12-hour journey from tooling to a temporary position 500 mm above its final landing spot.

2026-05-26 - 7:00 a.m. on lift day: a pre-lift briefing gathers all of the people who will be managing the first phase of the lift operation.

2026-05-26 - In a two-day operation that begins on Tuesday 26 May, assembly teams are transporting vacuum vessel sector module #4 to the Tokamak Building and lowering it into the tokamak pit. When completed, five of nine sector modules—over half—will be in place.

2026-05-22 - With the arrival of the last two side correction coils on Friday 22 May, another procurement milestone has been achieved. The Chinese Domestic Agency has now delivered the full suite of 18 correction coils (6 bottom, 6 side, 6 top).

2026-05-21 - The first D-shaped toroidal field coil is successfully cooled down to 4 Kelvin (K), or minus 269 °C, over a 12-day period in May 2026 in the ITER magnet cold test facility and high-current testing is expected to begin shortly. The tests will provide essential information on magnet behaviour, cryogenic performance, electrical interfaces, instrumentation, and the critical joints that connect the layers of wound superconductor inside of the magnet coils.

2026-05-21 - The first toroidal field coil has been successfully cooled down to 4 K (minus 269 °C) in the ITER magnet cold test facility and high current tests will begin soon.

2026-05-21 - Activities have begun at the ITER magnet cold test facility, where selected superconducting magnets will be tested at their operating temperature of 4 K and up to full current before installation in the machine.