Putting welding tools to the test

2026-09-03 - The handover of sector #3 in early September marks end of vacuum vessel bevel repairs. ITER has been collaborating for nearly three years with SIMANN (SIMIC and Ansaldo Nucleare) on the onsite refurbishment of the bevel edges (where the sectors will be welded together in the pit) following the discovery of some dimensional non-conformities.

2026-09-03 - After irregularities were found in the bevels—the edges where the sectors will be welded together to form the tokamak’s plasma chamber—ITER launched a repair campaign in partnership with SIMANN (SIMIC and Ansaldo Nucleare). That campaign has now been completed.

2026-09-03 - With the official handover of vacuum vessel sector #3 to the assembly team on 2 September, a nearly three-year bevel repair campaign has been successfully completed. All sectors needing repair have been repaired.

2026-09-01 - Toroidal field coil #07 is lifted into an upending cradle. Earlier this year, coil #07 was successfully cooled to 4.5 K and energized up to 10 kA in ITER's onsite magnet cold test facility.

2026-08-31 - A segment of vacuum vessel thermal shield is unwrapped in an ITER staging building. Each vacuum vessel sector gets associated with three panels of thermal shield during the sub-assembly process in the Assembly Hall.

2026-08-30 - Completing the tokamak cooling water system bridge was the work of a diverse team of experts. The coloured plastic is used for preservation purposes.

2026-08-30 - An 11-metre-long multi-pipe bridge that is a key connection point for the tokamak cooling water system has been completed in the Tokamak Complex. The bridge contains 28 process pipes for cooling water, draining, venting and sampling purposes.

2026-08-19 - In Monfalcone, Italy, the teams are carrying out the final factory activities on vacuum vessel sector #2—the last of five sectors produced in Europe. When it arrives at ITER in October, all nine of the vacuum vessel sectors required to complete the torus will be on site. ©F4E

2026-08-18 - Cables for instrumentation are attached to an ITER vacuum vessel sector.

2026-08-18 - Technicians are marking out the areas where clips for diagnostic looms need to be welded to the inner surface of a vacuum vessel sector in the tokamak pit.

2026-08-11 - These cryolines produced in Europe will deliver liquid helium to the cryopumps as part of the front end cryopump distribution system. All cryolines for the torus, cryostat and neutral beam cryopumps are now onsite at ITER. ©Criotec

2026-08-06 - ITER's static magnetic field (SMF) laboratory has achieved ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, meaning qualification tests on fusion equipment carried out at the facility are now officially recognized by regulators, suppliers, and partners across the global fusion ecosystem. The laboratory offers a unique combination of static magnetic field strength and testing volume (1 cubic metre) to assess the impact of stray magnetic fields on fusion equipment.

2026-07-29 - ITER and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP), have launched a joint postdoctoral training program that will give early-career researchers the opportunity to conduct fusion research at both institutions under the supervision of experts from China and ITER. Outstanding doctoral graduates worldwide can apply at http://www.ipp.cas.cn/yjs/recurit.

2026-07-28 - The sixth sector module (of nine) has officially "landed" in the tokamak pit.