A remarkable chapter draws to a close

2026-10-05 - With the delivery on 2 October of vacuum vessel sector #2, by Europe, all of the core tokamak components (cryostat, magnets, vacuum vessel) are on site. At the ceremony held to mark the historic moment, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi takes a moment to marvel at all that has been accomplished.

2026-10-05 - Staff and contractors, representatives of the Domestic Agencies and industry, converge for a brief celebration on the worksite on Monday 5 October. The last large component of the ITER machine—vacuum vessel sector #2—has been delivered.

2026-10-05 - The protective housing is moved off of vacuum vessel sector #2 on Monday 5 October.

2026-10-02 - The teams celebrate the arrival of the last vacuum vessel sector to ITER. Some impressive statistics about the load are printed on the housing...

2026-10-02 - The day it arrives on site, vacuum vessel sector #2 is moved into the Assembly Hall to be moved from its convoy platform to a self-propelled modular transporter.

2026-10-02 - Vacuum vessel sector #2, procured in Europe, arrives early in the morning of Friday 2 October. Six years after the arrival of the first vacuum vessel sector, the ninth and final sector is on site.

2026-09-30 - A perfect day to capture the flags of the ITER Members.

2026-09-25 - Now that the central solenoid tower is complete, with six stacked modules, the next phase of work is assembling the central solenoid structure. In this photo, tie plates are being unwrapped.

2026-09-24 - A toroidal field coil is inspected before it is transferred into the upending cradle to be lifted to vertical.

2026-09-24 - At the 34th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT), held from 21 to 25 September 2026 in Aix-en-Provence, France, visitors to the ITER stand could "fly through" the ITER machine ... virtually.

2026-09-24 - As an astrophysicist, Nobel Prize-winner Michel Mayor spent his career probing the immensity of the universe and searching for planets in solar systems light years away. Yet even he was struck by the sheer scale of ITER during a visit in late September. “It’s beautiful and extraordinarily complex physics. There is something to the glory of humanity in the fact that we concern ourselves with questions like these.”

2026-09-23 - One of the highlights of participating in the 34th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT), which was held just a few kilometres from the ITER site in September 2026, was the possibility of a bus trip to ITER. Around 250 conference attendees toured ITER machine construction in visits organized over two days.

2026-09-23 - The last "super HEL" (highly exceptional load) of the ITER procurement program is travelling now to the worksite: vacuum vessel sector #2. With the arrival of sector #2 in early October, all super HELs will be safely on site—a category that included all toroidal field coils, poloidal field coils manufactured offsite, and all nine vacuum vessel sectors. On 23 September, sector #2 was loaded on to a specialized barge to cross the inland sea of Berre.

2026-09-22 - The last vacuum vessel sector en route to ITER emerges from the hold of a cargo ship just as the sun is rising over the Port of Marseille Fos.