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Year in images

In 2025, photographers found an endless source of inspiration in ITER

22 Dec 2025

Whether professional, enthusiast, or occasional, photographers find an endless source of inspiration at ITER. On the worksite or inside the construction buildings, people at work, tools, components, light, reflections, and shadow come together to create a unique environment that appeals to anyone carrying a camera—or even a simple smartphone.

Workers stand on the cryostat base at the bottom of the tokamak assembly pit. The photograph was taken by Kevin Ballant, a design coordinator in the CAD Activities section and the driving force behind the launch of the ITER Photo Group in 2023. The Group organizes workshops and software training sessions, and at the end of this year showcased the work of some of its 80 members in an exhibition held in the lobby of ITER Headquarters. (See the link below for the virtual exhibition.)

The selection of photographs we are offering today as a “Year in Images” recap comes from two sources: the regular documentation of ITER activities by members of the Communication team, and contributions of the recently established ITER Photo Group.

Regardless of their origin, all of the images share the same intent: to convey—through graphic composition or a snapped portrait—the wonderment experienced when walking across the ITER worksite or inside the assembly and plant buildings. 

Attached to its rigging, vacuum vessel module #6 has just rotated 90 degrees and is heading towards its final destination in the tokamak assembly pit. This picture was shot from the height of the overhead crane. (Photo Kevin Ballant)

At ITER, a photographer’s eye can be attracted by many different “objects” or scenes. The handling of the massive components is the most obvious, but details like an array of manifolds or an alignment of bolts, a reflection in a pool of water, an expression on the face of a worker can be equally inspiring. In the spectacular ITER Council Room, a mere meeting is an invitation to press the shutter button.

Photography captures what words have difficulty expressing. Not that words are limited, but in describing the ITER environment, typical vocabulary risks being repetitive: the lifting of a vacuum vessel module, like the upending of a toroidal field coil, is always “awe-inspiring”; a busbar arrangement in the depths of the Tokamak Building or an alley lined with electrical equipment is evocative, inevitably, of an “alien world”…

Although they come with descriptive captions, we hope that the photographs we have selected for our 2025 “Year in Images” stand by themselves and communicate the feeling that inspired them.

Walk virtually through the most recent exposition of the ITER Photo Group "Through the ITER Lens."

2025-11-18 - After a shower, a ray of light falls on workers preparing a lift, projecting their reflection into a pool of water. The warm colors of the safety vests against a backdrop of cold concrete ... (Photo Kevin Ballant)
2025-10-30 - Designed by a renowned architectural firm, the cladding of the permanent ITER buildings—an alternance of mirror-like stainless steel and dark grey-lacquered metal—provides a graphic backdrop for this image of a worker operating an elevated platform.
2025-11-17 - The constraints of the COVID confinement led Marc Jouannet, a CAD designer at ITER for the past five years, to explore the joys of macrophotography. He later developed a passion for "wildlife, landscape, and portrait photography.” Here, he captures the eerie atmosphere of the ITER buildings dissolving into fog. (Photo Marc Jouannet)
2025-11-17 - Under the raking light of early morning, even a parking lot can be inspiring. (Photo Marc Jouannet)
2025-11-17 - Framed by a clever composition of colour and shape, a smile on a contractor’s face conveys the pride of working for ITER. Workers, whether in offices or on the construction site, are the project’s most precious asset. (Photo Marc Jouannet)
2025-10-14 - Jérôme Goudal, a CAD designer with ITER for the past 16 years, began practicing photography as a teenager, shooting portraits and concert performers. For "Through the ITER Lens," he wanted to capture "the huge dimension of the components being assembled in ITER.”
2025-10-14 - In this image taken at the bottom of the machine assembly pit, curves and vertical lines combine in a rigorous harmony. (Photo Jérôme Goudal)
2025-11-21 - Within ITER Communication, Hélène Delmotte is part of the visits team. She shot this dramatic view of the heat rejection system's cooling towers from her office window, with her smartphone, shortly after a brief snow shower. (Photo Hélène Delmotte)
2025-05-16 - A pioneer in his field, Emmanuel Riche has flown drones over ITER since 2015. Here, he combines drone photography and panoramic vision to create a dramatic view of a vacuum vessel sector being transported through the ITER Assembly Hall. (Photo EJF Riche)
2025-11-19 - This photo shows a sector module entering the antichamber of the Assembly Hall after repair in another workshop on site. (Photo Jeremy Mercer)
2025-03-18 - Prior to joining ITER in 2008, Robert Arnoux was a newspaper writer and reporter. In both writing and photography, he “covers” ITER as a journalist. Here, he captures the efforts of a team from the CNPE consortium. (Photo Robert Arnoux)
2025-10-28 - Evoking an alien star-studded sky? The beauty of state-of-the-art technology—here, the multi-layer insulation of the cryostat for the magnet cold test facility—sometimes rivals that of nature.
2025-11-25 - Vacuum vessel module #5 has just landed on temporary supports in the tokamak pit. It is the third module to be installed in 2025. (Photo Robert Arnoux)
2025-09-29 - On the first leg of its land journey to ITER, the massive cryostat for the magnet cold test facility passes through the small town of Berre-l'Étang. It has been the longest and widest load to travel along the ITER itinerary. (Photo Robert Arnoux)
2025-06-18 - In 2019, Kevin Ballant, bought a "real camera" with the intention "of trying something different from what I usually did with a smart phone." A passion ensued, which led to the creation of the ITER Photo Group in 2023. Here, Kevin captures vacuum vessel module #6 being lowered into the tokamak assembly pit, where module #7 had been installed two months before. (Photo Kevin Ballant)
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