From around the world to one assembly line

2026-06-15 - At the divertor integration facility in Qinshan, China, the elements of the ITER divertor will come together to form the "divertor cassette assemblies" that will be installed at ITER.

2026-06-15 - A consortium led by the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP) will mount inner vertical targets from Europe, outer vertical targets from Japan, and divertor domes from Russia onto cassette bodies manufactured by Europe, and integrate diagnostic systems and operational instrumentation.

2026-06-15 - The CNPE Consortium became part of the ITER machine assembly project in 2019 when it signed the TAC1 machine assembly contract; today, it has also has responsibility for sector module sub-assembly, sector module assembly in the pit (excluding welding), and the pre-welding positioning and preparation of the sectors in the pit. The consortium has played a significant role in efforts to optimize the vacuum vessel sector module assembly process.

2026-06-15 - As part of the CNPE Consortium, France's Framatome focuses on quality assurance and regulatory oversight. Here, members of Framatome team can be seen in front of a nearly completed sector module that is scheduled to be transferred to the tokamak pit in July.

2026-06-11 - Welders from seven companies and four countries are competing in the onsite competition "Top Welding, Top ITER," showcasing the skill and precision essential to ITER tokamak assembly. The competition started on Thursday 11 June.

2026-06-11 - After years of intensive installation and tests, the ITER LN₂ plant is now ready for service. The European teams have successfully cooled down the two nitrogen refrigerators, completing the commissioning of the system. The plant has shown that it can deliver the required cooling power (1,300 kW at 80 K) and can perform reliably in various scenarios.

2026-06-08 - Accommodating approximately 20,000 visitors to the ITER site every year is a core team (photo) supported by a large network of volunteer guides drawn from across the organization. From left to right: Hélène Delmotte, Julie Marcillat, Anthony Sanna, Axelle Lohez, and program manager Kirsten Haupt.

2026-06-08 - The teams are delivering vacuum vessel sector #9 into the Cleaning Facility/Assembly Hall so that it can take its place in vacuum vessel sector module tooling. A vacancy was created with the transfer, on 26-27 May, of sector module #4 to the pit.

2026-06-06 - On Saturday 6 June, volunteers greet over 800 people on the worksite—personnel and their children, spouses and relatives—as gates open for a special Open Doors Day, one reserved exclusively for the family and friends of the ITER workforce.

2026-06-04 - Fusion for Energy contractor Research Instruments has begun assembling tungsten-armoured plasma-facing units onto the steel structures of divertor inner vertical targets. ©RI

2026-06-04 - Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute, and Pietro Barabaschi, ITER Director-General, sign a cooperation agreement in Saint Petersburg on 4 June 2026 for the exchange of scientific information, the implementation of joint research programs, the training of young scientists and engineers, and the joint supervision of doctoral research.

2026-06-02 - The MITICA beam source leaves the ALSYMEX facility in Tarbes, France, for the ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility in Padua, Italy. The beam source is a critical part of the MITICA full-scale neutral beam injector prototype that will test neutral beam injection based on negative ion technology ahead of operation on ITER.

2026-06-02 - An element of vacuum vessel thermal shield is surveyed before it is mounted in the sub-assembly tool to become part of a sector module.

2026-05-27 - 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.