Backfilling penetrations

Racing against concrete

For eight years, between 2012 and 2020, a large concrete batching plant operated on the ITER platform. Mixing gravel and sand, cement, water and additives, it produced a wide range of concrete formulas, each adapted to the specific requirements of the ITER buildings and structures. Delivered directly to the necessary...

Fusion (also) means business

ITER links two 2025 events

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Colleagues pay tribute to Robert Aymar

ITER Awards 2024

Many causes for celebration

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17 Jan 2025

Hot Cell Facility - Online Technical Information Day

The ITER Organization and Fusion for Energy (F4E) will organize an online Microsoft Teams Technical...

22 Apr 2025

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The second ITER Private Sector Workshop will be hosted at ITER on 22-23 April 2025, two days before...

22 Apr 2025

2d ITER Private Sector Workshop

The second ITER Private Sector Workshop will be hosted at ITER on 22-23 April 2025, two days before...

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Repairs advancing

2025-01-09 - New piping is welded on a segment of support thermal shield panel at ITER. The panel will be lowered into the tokamak pit and installed as a thermal barrier between the toroidal field coil gravity supports and the vacuum vessel.

Don't step here

2024-12-27 - Scaffolding is installed above poloidal field coil #5 to protect it while assembly teams re-install support thermal shield panels.

Sectors galore

2024-12-27 - Five of the nine required ITER vacuum vessel sectors are on site. Two are in tooling in the Assembly Hall; three others are being held in the former Cryostat Workshop (including the two pictured).

Work never stops on the platform

2024-12-27 - Offices may have been closed at ITER for the end-of-year holidays, but on the worksite the teams remained active. In the Assembly Hall, where tokamak components are prepared for installation, every day began with a coordination meeting.

Metrology after repair

2024-12-26 - Support thermal shield panel #17 is surveyed by a metrologist after repair and before installation in the tokamak pit.

Thermal shield panel aligned in pit

2024-12-26 - A support thermal shield panel is installed and aligned in the pit. When corrosion cracking was discovered in some vacuum vessel thermal shield panels, the decision was made to replace all thermal shield cooling pipes. Support thermal shield panels, which weigh approximately 700 kg each, were easy to remove from the pit and repair. Now, after the removal of old pipes, machining, the welding of new pipes, and metrology, the panels are being reinstalled.

First batch of shield blocks leave China

2024-12-17 - China, responsible for the procurement of 220 blanket shield blocks for the ITER machine, oversees the shipment of a first batch of 48 in December. The truck is seen here leaving Donfang Electric Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. in Guanzhou.

Bringing concrete to difficult areas

2024-12-16 - For some backfilling operations, no truck, pump or piping can easily access the zone. In these cases, solutions have been devised to bring the required concrete to where it is needed through a carefully orchestrated series of transfers of concrete to skips. In this image, one of the small skips delivered by cargo lift is emptied into a larger one that will be lifted and positioned above the opening to be filled.

One week to cure the concrete

2024-12-16 - The opening is now filled and the high-density concrete is being vibrated so that it settles in a homogeneous manner through the rebar. "Curing” will take one week; full compressive strength will be obtained in 28 days.

A visit to the ITER school

2024-12-13 - In December, the Director-General of ITER visits the EIPACA International School of Manosque, which provides K-12 bilingual education (French plus one of the following languages: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, or Japanese) and is attended by many children of ITER staff members. Pietro Barabaschi (second from left) meets with Nicolas Debenne (Director), Mickaël Cabbeke (Academic Director), and Annabelle Rinaudo (Deputy Head).

2024 ITER International School

2024-12-13 - The 2024 ITER International School on magnetic fusion diagnostics and data science takes place at Nagoya Prime Central Tower, Japan, hosted by the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS). The school gathered a total of 199 participants from 21 different countries.

An evening dedicated to Korea and team awards

2024-12-11 - The ITER end-of-year celebration on 11 December 2024 is organized around the theme "A taste of Korea," with demonstrations of traditional dance (photo) and K-pop, as well as delicious Korean food. During the evening's ITER Team Awards ceremony, five teams were recognized for their strong track record of delivering in 2024.

Evgeny Velikhov, 1935-2024

2024-12-09 - Russian physicist Evgeny Velikhov, a major figure in the history of fusion research and, as Mikhail Gorbachev’s friend and scientific advisor, one of the driving forces behind the creation of ITER, passes away in December 2024 at age 89.

How do electronics react to magnetic fields?

2024-12-04 - Components installed in the ITER Tokamak Complex will be exposed to magnetic fields to varying degrees. To test the resistance of these components before operation, and to avoid the risk of dysfunction, samples of valves, circuit breakers, and electric and electromechanical components are being subjected to maximum expected field levels in a test facility on the ITER site that was designed and built in China. See "How do electronics react to magnetic fields?" in the ITER video gallery.