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

  • ITER Design Handbook | Preserving the vital legacy of ITER

    The contributions that ITER is making to fusion physics and engineering—through decades of decisions and implementation—are delivering insights to the fusion co [...]

    Read more

  • Electron cyclotron heating | Aligning technology and physics

    ITER, like other fusion devices, will rely on a mix of external heating technologies to bring the plasma to the temperature necessary for fusion. At a five-day [...]

    Read more

  • Poloidal field magnets | The last ring

    As the massive ring-shaped coil inched its way from the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, where it was manufactured, to the storage facility nearby where i [...]

    Read more

  • Heat rejection | White "smoke" brings good news

    Like a plume of white smoke rising from a cardinals' conclave to announce the election of a new pope, the tenuous vapour coming from one of the ITER cooling cel [...]

    Read more

  • WEC 2024 | Energy on centre stage

    The global players in the energy sector convened in Rotterdam last week for the 26th edition of the World Energy Congress (WEC). The venue was well chosen, wit [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

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 Coils Winding Facility wasn't yet finalized, the electrical switchyard was just a forest of pylons, and at the bottom of a large 17-metre-deep excavation on the platform, installation work had just begun on the anti-seismic system of the Tokamak Complex. The visitors of twelve years ago however sensed that something unique was beginning to take shape. Last week on Saturday, as the doors of ITER were opened wide once again, the immensity and complexity of the project hit each and everyone of the approximately 800 participants.

Close to 800 visitors, young and old, passed the open doors of ITER on Saturday 25 November and took in the immensity and complexity of the project. (Click to view larger version...)
Close to 800 visitors, young and old, passed the open doors of ITER on Saturday 25 November and took in the immensity and complexity of the project.
Conceived and organized for the public, Open Doors Day is also a unique opportunity for "ITER workers," whichever organization or company they belong to, to share their passion and expertise. This year, a record 75 volunteers, including ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi, guided the public and provided explanations and perspective.

New features are offered at every event, as progress is made on the worksite and more components are finalized and delivered. On Saturday, the public particularly appreciated the viewpoints through plexiglass panes into the Tokamak assembly pit—a bit like an aquarium view on a mysterious subterranean world. Also impressive was the recently cocooned cryostat top lid, which gave a sense of the exceptional dimensions of the ITER machine.

And of course there was the magic of physics made fun—the plasma ball, the expanding marshmallows, the tricks magnetism can play... all courtesy of the usual partners Petits débrouillards, United Crocos of Marseille and, last but not least, the in-house "plasmagicians."

 

 

 

return to the latest published articles