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News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Tokamaks | Different approaches around the world

    Look east, look west ... tokamak projects are underway in different parts of the world. All of them are benefiting from and complementing the pioneering work al [...]

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  • Construction site | A guide to work underway

    Just like the ITER worksite, drone photography is also making progress. This view of the ITER platform is the sharpest and most detailed of all those we have pu [...]

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  • Vacuum vessel repair | A portfolio

    Whether standing vertically in the Assembly Hall or lying horizontally in the former Cryostat Workshop now assigned to component repair operations, the non-conf [...]

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  • European Physical Society | ITER presents its new plans

    The new ITER baseline and its associated research plan were presented last week at the 50th annual conference of the European Physical Society Plasma Physics Di [...]

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  • Image of the week | The platform's quasi-final appearance

    Since preparation work began in 2007 on the stretch of land that was to host the 42-hectare ITER platform, regular photographic surveys have been organized to d [...]

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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."

 

 

 

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