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

  • Fusion world | Japan and Europe inaugurate largest tokamak in the world

    It was 6:00 a.m. in La Bergerie, a former sheep barn located a few kilometres from ITER in the vast Château de Cadarache domain, and that had been converted [...]

    Read more

  • Stakeholders | ITER Director-General meets Prime Minister Kishida

    In Japan, the prime minister lives and works at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in central Tokyo, just a few blocks from the National Diet Building and [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | Season wrapping

    Although the travel distance is short, barely exceeding one hundred metres, the transfer of vacuum vessel sector #8 from the Assembly Hall, where it is presentl [...]

    Read more

  • In memoriam | Bernard Pégourié, physicist and mountaineer

    The worldwide fusion community mourns Bernard Pégourié, of France's Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (CEA-IRFM), who passed away on 25 November following [...]

    Read more

  • COP28 | Fusion is making a splash

    The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, opened on 30 November in Dubai's Expo City—a sprawling conference centre built two years ago for the W [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Image of the week

From ship to barge, directly

Shipped from industrial facilities located on three continents, the largest and heaviest ITER components are unloaded on dedicated heavy-load quays at Marseille industrial harbour Fos-sur-Mer. The operation consists in lifting the load from the depths of the ship's hold, sometimes rotating it in mid-air to align it with a transport trailer parked alongside the ship and eventually depositing it as carefully and as precisely as possible on the trailer's flat back. The trailer is then loaded on a specially designed barge and transported across the inland sea of Berre to start its land journey to the ITER site. Exceptionally, last week when vacuum vessel sector #8 arrived from Korea, no heavy-load quay was available at Fos and the load had to be transferred directly from the ship to the barge—a rather long and particularly delicate operation.

Vacuum vessel sector #8 is the third sector to arrive from Korea. It was procured by the Korean Domestic Agency from Hyundai Heavy Industries within the framework of a contract signed with the ITER Organization.(Photo Emmanuel Bonici) (Click to view larger version...)
Vacuum vessel sector #8 is the third sector to arrive from Korea. It was procured by the Korean Domestic Agency from Hyundai Heavy Industries within the framework of a contract signed with the ITER Organization.(Photo Emmanuel Bonici)
On Wednesday 9 March, following two days of intense preparation supervised by ITER global logistics provider DAHER, smooth water and a lack of wind at Fos harbour created ideal conditions for the transfer. Barge and ship were placed alongside each other and, while electronic calculators adjusted ballast in real-time, the ship's massive on-board cranes slowly lifted the 558-tonne load. As ITER vacuum vessel sectors are placed perpendicular to the ship's hull in order to minimize the effects of acceleration during the sea voyage from Korea, the load had to be turned 90 degrees so that it could align with the barge.

Once aligned, the load was lowered onto the barge deck and positioned on 16 stillage supports (also called "stools" or "elephant legs") under which the transport trailer was already in place. Small back and forth movements of the trailer allowed for the precise adjustment of the barge's centre of gravity.

Loaded with the vacuum vessel sector in its cabin-like housing  plus the 176-tonne trailer, the barge docked at Port de la Pointe on the north shore of the inland sea the following day. Road transportation to ITER is scheduled from 28 March to 1 April 2022.

One final sector expected from Korea will be ready to sail in the first weeks of September. Five other sectors will be delivered to the ITER Organization by the European Domestic Agency.

return to the latest published articles