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Open Doors Day

Accessing the very heart of ITER

28 Nov 2022
Small or tall, knowledgeable or neophyte, from near or far ... the 600 people who took part in ITER's latest Open Doors Day all departed with the sense that something consequential is happening in this rural corner of southern France.
JPO_Nov-2022_Lionel-2.jpg
ITER Open Doors Days are always exceptional events, where access to the very heart of ITER is rendered possible, and dozens of volunteers are available to answer every question.
First, it's the size. From the pieces of the ITER machine that are viewable in different stages of handling and assembly, to the concrete and steel buildings that house them, touring ITER makes you feel like you may have crossed through a looking glass and woken up in a different world, where your usual vocabulary is simply inadequate.

Then, it's the aspiration. Pushing to leave behind yesterday's boundaries in science and technology to achieve something remarkable in the domain of energy, with all of the challenges that have been solved and those that remain, and all that is being learned along the way.

And finally, the team. Your guide may have been Slovene, Chinese, or American; your expert Indian, Dutch or French. Listening to them speak with passion about their slice of the project, sharing something of their expertise and experience, and breaking down complex notions into ingestible pieces, really reinforces the sense that the effort to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion is broad, the stakes universal, and the solution international.

Here are more scenes from the Open Doors Day on 26 November.

Whatever their age, visitors never tire of watching the effect of vacuum on balloons and marshmallows. (Here Process & Integration Engineer Nicolas Navion-Maillot in his role of "plasmagician.")
A window into an alien world: the upper part of the first vacuum vessel sector is seen from an opening in the bioshield.
Who knows the cryostat better than Guillaume Vitupier, the leader of the ITER Cryostat Group?
Sylvie Ward, from the Project Control Office, guides one of the Cryostat Workshop visits.
Tokamak components are as massive as they are puzzling. (Here a vacuum vessel sector in one of the twin sector sub-assembly tools.)
In the port cell that opens onto a spectacular view of the Tokamak pit, Lionel Poncet, a metrology engineer, points out the different installed elements.
Guided by Tokamak Integration Technical Officer Benoît Manfreo, visitors take a 3D excursion into the inner workings of the ITER Tokamak.
Ingrid Blain is a specialist of equipment under nuclear pressure. Against the backdrop of a recently delivered toroidal field coil, she explains the role of the ITER cryostat.
Senior advisor Ju Jin is in the Visitors Centre, providing explanations on how the ITER Project is organized.
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