Select your newsletters:
Please enter your email address:
@
News & Media
Latest ITER Newsline
-
Crane operator | A cabin in the sky
There are times, at dusk, when the ITER construction platform resembles an airport, with roads and buildings illuminated by yellow and white lights. From their [...]
-
Assembly | A colossal task made manageable
For the execution of work during the next project phase—machine and plant assembly up to First Plasma—the ITER Organization has chosen a contractual approach th [...]
-
Neutral Beam Test Facility | A new agreement for a new era
The ITER Organization and the Italian consortium Consorzio RFX* have signed a new agreement governing the construction and operation of the ITER Neutral Beam Te [...]
-
Load tests | Heavyweight champion
The Assembly Hall, with its two giant tools towering 20 metres above ground, is one of the most spectacular locations on the ITER site. When a dummy load weighi [...]
-
Fusion's new pioneers | How to go fast enough to make a difference
Last month in New York, the Stellar Energy Foundation and the Fusion Industry Association co-hosted an invitation-only workshop: 'Roadmap to the Fusion Energy E [...]
ITER NEWSLINE -
Home at last
Passing through Saint Paul-lez-Durance (pop. 987), the last village before arriving at ITER.
There's a strange beauty to the transport of ITER components. It comes from the revolving lights piercing the night, from the slow progress of the trailer and its escort of a dozen vehicles, from the deserted roads and sleeping villages...
For three nights, from 4 to 7 May, the second Highly Exceptional Load (HEL) to be delivered to ITER made its way along the ITER Itinerary. A few minutes past 3:00 a.m., on Thursday 7 May, two large trailers—each loaded with a 79-ton cylindrical tank—passed the gate of the ITER site.
Five weeks after the US-procured components had embarked for their transatlantic voyage and 11 days after they were unloaded at Marseille's industrial harbour in Fos-sur-Mer, the tanks had reached their home at last.
The final leg of the voyage, from the village Meyrargues to the ITER site, was uneventful—which is the best possible result for such a delicate logistics operation. The schedule was respected and even improved by half an hour. By mid-afternoon both tanks had been unloaded and carefully stored into the large hangar at the entrance to ITER Headquarters.
Out in the open they resembled giant beer kegs. In the hangar, they looked like the segments of a star-bound rocket.
return to the latest published articles