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News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Image of the week | More cladding and a new message

    As the October sun sets on the ITER worksite, the cladding of the neutral beam power buildings takes on a golden hue. One after the other, each of the scientifi [...]

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  • Cryodistribution | Cold boxes 20 years in the making

    Twenty years—that is how long it took to design, manufacture and deliver the cold valve boxes that regulate the flow of cryogens to the tokamak's vacuum system. [...]

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  • Open Doors Day | Face to face with ITER immensity

    In October 2011, when ITER organized its first 'Open Doors Day,' there was little to show and much to leave to the public's imagination: the Poloidal Field [...]

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  • Fusion | Turning neutrons into electricity

    How will the power generated by nuclear fusion reactions be converted into electricity? That is not a question that ITER has been designed to answer explicitly, [...]

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  • Fusion world | JET completes a storied 40-year run

    In its final deuterium-tritium experimental campaign, Europe's JET tokamak device demonstrated plasma scenarios that are expected on ITER and future fusion powe [...]

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Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

A narrow passage to ITER

At the gorge of Mirabeau, 10 kilometres to the south of the ITER site, the wide Durance riverbed abruptly narrows into a gully less than 180 metres wide.

The remnants of the old bridge of Mirabeau, built in 1847, seem to stand guard over the narrow passage that leads to ITER. (Click to view larger version...)
The remnants of the old bridge of Mirabeau, built in 1847, seem to stand guard over the narrow passage that leads to ITER.
Overlooking the left bank, a road leading to the village of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance was hewn from the rock. Despite recent adjustments, it still offers only limited space for passage.

And yet, this is the road every ITER convoy must travel in order to reach the ITER site.

In this picture, a segment of the ITER cryostat lower cylinder is embarking on the last leg of its journey—ITER is now only 30 minutes away.

To the left, the remnants of the old bridge, built in 1847, seem to stand guard over the passage.

Initially planned as an HEL convoy (for Highly Exceptional Load)—a massive and costly logistics operation—the six lower cylinder segments of the cryostat were all "downgraded" to CEL convoys (for Conventional Exceptional Load), a transport category that requires lighter technical assistance and a reduced security escort.

This was possible (with heavy technical adaptations) because the rather light components (39 tonnes) exceeded the typical CEL dimensions by only 65 centimetres in height.

We will soon have a story on how DAHER, the logistics service provider responsible for the transport of components from Fos-sur-Mer harbour to the ITER site, plans to bring down the anticipated number of HEL, in order to achieve "best value for money" while reducing the inconveniences of the ITER HEL convoys on local populations.

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