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News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Vacuum components | Shake, rattle, and... qualify!

    A public-private testing partnership certified that ITER's vacuum components can withstand major seismic events. Making sure the ITER tokamak will be safe in th [...]

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  • Feeders | Delivering the essentials

    Like a circle of giant syringes all pointing inward, the feeders transport and deliver the essentials to the 10,000-tonne ITER magnet system—that is, electrical [...]

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  • Image of the week | It's FAB season

    It's FAB season at ITER. Like every year since 2008, the Financial Audit Board (FAB) will proceed with a meticulous audit of the project's finances, siftin [...]

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  • Disruption mitigation | Final design review is a major step forward

    The generations of physicists, engineers, technicians and other specialists who have worked in nuclear fusion share a common goal, dedication and responsibility [...]

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  • Image of the week | Like grasping a bowl of cereal

    Contrary to the vast majority of ITER machine components, the modules that form the central solenoid cannot be lifted by way of hooks and attachments. The 110-t [...]

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Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

The flagpole has gone

The Tokamak Pit seen from the east, with the concrete columns of the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility looming in the clear blue Provencal sky at the far end. (Click to view larger version...)
The Tokamak Pit seen from the east, with the concrete columns of the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility looming in the clear blue Provencal sky at the far end.
The flagpole that has been marking the future centre of the ITER Tokamak ever since the first site clearing works commenced in 2006 has finally been moved aside. The earth and concrete in which it stood over the last four years is gone. These days, huge dump trucks are removing the top soil and dynamite is taking care of the rocky rest. The excavation of the ITER Tokamak Pit is in full swing; the open heart surgery has begun.

For the Tokamak, the pit will have to be excavated down to a depth of 20 metres, whereas for the Hot Cell, which is directly adjacent, the shovels will have to dig down to at least 12 metres. From time to time, analytical measurements record the geological characteristics of the rock foundation.

The columns will soon carry the main crane beams of the Coils Winding Facility. (Click to view larger version...)
The columns will soon carry the main crane beams of the Coils Winding Facility.
Just a hundred metres away from the pit, tall concrete columns of almost 10 metres in height loom into the clear blue Provencal sky, soon to carry the main crane beams of the winding facility for ITER's poloidal field coils.

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