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

  • Image of the Week | Sector 5 is on its way

    The first vacuum vessel sector produced in Europe travelled last week between Monfalcone, Italy, and the French port of Fos-sur-Mer. The 440-tonne component had [...]

    Read more

  • Anniversary | ITER Document Management system turns 20

    Whatever its nature, every large project generates huge numbers of documents. And when project collaborators operate from different countries, as was the case f [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Latvia mints a fusion-themed coin

    Last week, ITER Plant Installation Program Manager Bertrand Roques brought back a small but highly symbolic contribution to the ITER budget from a colloqui [...]

    Read more

  • Outreach | Train traveller? Meet ITER

    Anyone arriving at or leaving from the Aix-en-Provence high-speed train station this month is liable to learn a little about the ITER project, as there is hardl [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Innovative approaches and how ITER can help

    More than 30 private fusion companies from around the world attended ITER's inaugural Private Sector Fusion Workshop in May 2024. Four of them participated in a [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Component repair

Sector module extraction imminent

The paperwork is done. Every tool and system has been checked, both visually and with the proper instruments. A "functional briefing" has reminded everyone involved of how the operation will proceed, step by step, and clarified the chain of command. On Tuesday this week, the delicate and complex "extraction" of vacuum vessel sector module #6 from the assembly pit will begin.

The same team responsible for the lift and installation of the 1,350-tonne sector module in May 2022 will be on deck in the coming days. ''We have the best people on the ground,'' says Daniel Coelho the ITER assembly engineer who will coordinate the operation. (Click to view larger version...)
The same team responsible for the lift and installation of the 1,350-tonne sector module in May 2022 will be on deck in the coming days. ''We have the best people on the ground,'' says Daniel Coelho the ITER assembly engineer who will coordinate the operation.
The same team responsible for the lift and installation of the 1,350-tonne sector module in May 2022 will be on deck this week—in all, close to 50 people working for the ITER Organization and contracting companies. Working in close coordination, they will lift the sector module out of the assembly pit and transfer it to one of the twin sector sub-assembly tools (SSAT-2), where it will be disassembled so that some of its elements (the vacuum vessel sector itself and thermal shield panels) can be readied for repair.

Every tool and system has been checked, both visually and with the proper instruments. (Click to view larger version...)
Every tool and system has been checked, both visually and with the proper instruments.
"Extracting" might be the semantic opposite of "inserting," but in the context of this huge component the extraction will not be a perfect reverse operation. Procedures and tools have been adapted to deal with a situation that was not initially anticipated, but that is now planned through a carefully constructed scenario.

Late on Monday afternoon, as the last details were being worked out, the team members were both focused and confident. "We have the best people on the ground," confided Daniel Coelho, the ITER assembly engineer who will coordinate the operation.

return to the latest published articles