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FR

A spectacular outing

26 Oct 2015 - Iris Rona
As the early morning sun shed its pink rays over the ITER site last Saturday 24 October, the first visitors of the seventh ITER Open Doors Day event were already queueing for a front-row view of the spectacular changes that have taken place on the site in the last few months.
JPO_10_15_Group_back.jpg
From the unique vantage point of the ITER Assembly Building, visitors had a stunning view down onto the Tokamak Pit, where work has just begun to pour the circular three-metre-thick bioshield.
About 800 visitors, from the region but also beyond, had come to witness first-hand how the ITER Project is slowly but visibly taking shape.

Shuttle buses first dropped them off at the ITER Visitors Centre where they were welcomed by a team of volunteers from the scientific and technical departments and also by the Director-General of the ITER Project himself—Bernard Bigot—who spent the day on site speaking with the crowds and leading bus tours.

Through access to guides, films, documentation and mockups, the visitors were introduced to science and technology of ITER, the advantages of fusion, the hurdles that remain on the way to fusion energy, and the role of ITER. And then it was time to board the buses again to head to the centre of activity on the worksite.

For this edition of Open Doors Day, the public had the exceptional opportunity to gain access to the 60-metre-tall ITER Assembly Building (not yet completed) where the main components of the machine will be prepared and pre-assembled.

From this unique vantage point visitors had a stunning view down onto the Tokamak Pit, where work has just begun to pour the circular three-metre-thick bioshield. Representatives of the European Domestic Agency, in charge of supervising and financing all site work, were on hand with technical explanations.

Looking overhead to the roof of the Assembly Building, 60 metres above ground level, and then down again 12 metres into bottom of the Tokamak Pit, the visitors had an opportunity to experience the scale of ITER—the scale of the massive construction project, the scale of the machine to come—the largest tokamak in the world—and the scale of the international collaboration that is making it all happen.

The next Open Doors Day is planned for the spring of 2016. 

Laurent Schmieder manages the construction of the site for the European Domestic Agency. On Saturday 21 October he was on the Assembly Building basemat to give technical explanations to the visitors.
Under the vast structure of the Assembly Building the visitors seem ... very small. They stand on the edge of the Tokamak Pit, where pouring activities are underway on the lowest basement level of the Tokamak Complex.
Thick lengths of rebar and small-scale seismic pads and embedded plates help the visitors to understand the complexities of building a facility like ITER.
The terrace of the ITER Visitors Centre is one of the best places to view ITER construction.
In addition to the guides on hand, the panels in the Visitors Centre were a good place to start.
The mockup of the ITER machine comes complete with flashing lights and a tiny figurine in blue that's fun to spot.
Volunteers from the scientific and technical departments were identifiable by their ITER hats.
From young to old, there's something for everyone at the ITER Open Doors Day.
ITER's #1 guide
ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot was on site all day, speaking to visitors and leading bus tours to the site in English and French.
Looking over the ITER site
In the Visitors Centre, a mockup of the completed scientific installation greets guests.
Through access to guides, films, documentation and mockups, the visitors were introduced to science and technology of ITER, the advantages of fusion, the hurdles that remain on the way to fusion energy, and the role of ITER.
In visiting the heart of the construction site, Open Doors Day guests penetrated into a world of concrete and steel.
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