Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Image of the Week | Sector 5 is on its way

    The first vacuum vessel sector produced in Europe travelled last week between Monfalcone, Italy, and the French port of Fos-sur-Mer. The 440-tonne component had [...]

    Read more

  • Anniversary | ITER Document Management system turns 20

    Whatever its nature, every large project generates huge numbers of documents. And when project collaborators operate from different countries, as was the case f [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Latvia mints a fusion-themed coin

    Last week, ITER Plant Installation Program Manager Bertrand Roques brought back a small but highly symbolic contribution to the ITER budget from a colloqui [...]

    Read more

  • Outreach | Train traveller? Meet ITER

    Anyone arriving at or leaving from the Aix-en-Provence high-speed train station this month is liable to learn a little about the ITER project, as there is hardl [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Innovative approaches and how ITER can help

    More than 30 private fusion companies from around the world attended ITER's inaugural Private Sector Fusion Workshop in May 2024. Four of them participated in a [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

Ballet in the sky

The spectacular aerial ballet will continue in the coming weeks as 12 identical pylons are erected and assembled along the six kilometres that separate the ITER platform from the 400 kV power line. (Click to view larger version...)
The spectacular aerial ballet will continue in the coming weeks as 12 identical pylons are erected and assembled along the six kilometres that separate the ITER platform from the 400 kV power line.
For ITER, European Domestic Agency F4E or ENGAGE staff with an office facing the platform, the spectacular show continued last week as specialists from the German company GS-Energy finalized the installation of the 120-tonne pylon that will hold the power cables for ITER's four-hectare switchyard.

Over two days this week, the four pre-assembled "arms" of the pylon, of which the largest weigh 16 tonnes, were hoisted one by one to the frame and bolted by a team of eight specialists in "acrobatic works."

Assembling a pylon requires some five tons of individual bolts. Once each bolt is properly tightened, it is "clipped" by way of hammer and awl in order to prevent it from unscrewing.

The spectacular aerial ballet will continue in the coming weeks as 12 identical pylons are erected and assembled along the six kilometres that separate the ITER platform from the existing 400 kV power line.

Next week, workers will pass "pulling cables," which are much thinner and lighter than power cables, through the temporary pulleys that can be seen hanging from the pylons' arms. Once these pulling cables are in place for at least two pylons, they will be attached to the power cables. Powerful truck-mounted winches will pull the power cables into place and pulleys will then be replaced by glass insulators.

One by one, the four pre-assembled ''arms'' of the pylon were hoisted to the frame and bolted by a team of eight specialists in acrobatic works. (Click to view larger version...)
One by one, the four pre-assembled ''arms'' of the pylon were hoisted to the frame and bolted by a team of eight specialists in acrobatic works.
Each pylon will support two power cables, each consisting of three "phase cables", plus two "lightning protection" cables. All cables are four-centimetres in diameter and are made of an aluminium alloy that is lighter, and cheaper, than copper.

A true reflection of the ITER project, pylon assembly is an international operation: most of GS-Energy's acrobatic works specialists are Lithuanian and communicate with their foreman in German. When the acrobats are at the top of the tower, some 40 metres above ground, they rely on the foreman's French skills to formulate their needs to the crane operator...


return to the latest published articles