For the first time in its history, the ITER Organization has established a formal path to technical collaboration with a non-Member state: Australia. On Friday 30 September, the ITER Organization signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), a national research organization representing the Australian nuclear fusion community for the purposes of the Agreement. A framework is now in place for technical cooperation in areas of mutual interest and benefit. For Australia's small but active community of fusion scientists and engineers, this formal welcome from the ITER Organization and the seven ITER Members to engage directly in the ITER Project is an achievement that has been a long time in the making. With a tradition of fusion research dating back a half century and well-established programs at universities and labs throughout the country, Australia has the technical means and human capital to contribute meaningfully to the ITER Project. For decades—both individually and grouped within the Australia ITER Forum—researchers have lobbied for closer involvement in ITER. Within the framework of the new agreement, it now becomes possible for Australia to contribute directly to the machine in small but important areas and for Australian researchers to participate in research collaborations at ITER. Cooperation is envisioned in a number of strategic areas, including diagnostics, materials, superconducting technology, and fusion plasma theory and modelling.  "This a fundamental change," says David Campbell, who heads ITER's Science & Operations Department. "Although the fusion R&D activities in the ITER Members make up the vast majority of the international research program on fusion energy development, this is a first step in expanding our research collaborations into the wider fusion community, where there is significant, and in some cases unique, expertise. There is considerable potential for both the Australian and ITER fusion communities in such collaboration." ANSTO CEO Adi Paterson and John Howard, director of ANU's Plasma Research Laboratory, are pictured to the right of ITER Director-General Bigot. Also present for the signature were David Campbell (far left), head of ITER's Science & Operations Department; Eisuke Tada (second from left), ITER Deputy Director-General; and ITER scientific and legal staff who contributed to the preparation of the agreement and the development of collaborative activities. The chance for closer involvement in ITER came about when the fusion community encountered an advocate in Adi Paterson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). In agreeing to represent the Australian fusion community, this federal research organization is provoking a "multiplier effect," convening power at a federal level for universities and research institutes that are mostly based in the States."It's an excellent fit for us," says the ANSTO Chief Executive Officer. "We're interested in strengthening international linkages ... we understand large scale projects ... we have been the custodian of Australia's relationship with CERN for years. Our experience will allow us to articulate for the government what the interest of ITER can be and act a translator and portal for our research communities." "This Cooperation Agreement gives our efforts in Australia a little more credibility and may help us to build up the program in the future," agrees John Howard, who heads the Australian National University's Plasma Research Laboratory and its H-1 research facility. "We have a number of small plasma devices in Australia that have helped us to develop technologies that are relevant for ITER and to train a generation of students. I foresee real mutual benefit—new opportunities for our graduates and the possibility for ITER to tap into a pool of really outstanding people." At the signature ceremony, the ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot celebrated a "new model of engagement that is fully compliant with the ITER Agreement"—a way of participating in ITER outside of full membership. "We look forward to Australia contributing solutions directly to our machine in small but important domains." Read the press release in English or French. *The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is a public research organization that pursues advanced applications of nuclear science and technology for the benefit of the public and industry. See more on the ANSTO website. Click here for the official recording of the Australian Parliament session during which ANSTO CEO Adi Paterson reported on the agreement with ITER (Senate Economics Legislation Committee, 20 October, 15:07:00).

Their quests are different, but many of the technologies they use and most of the issues they face are similar. CERN and ITER have a lot in common—right down to a former director general in the person of Robert Aymar who headed ITER from 1994 to 2003 and the European Organization for Nuclear Research from 2004 to 2008. Physicists and engineers from CERN and ITER belong to the same family: whether exploring the intimate structure of matter or interpreting the chaotic behaviour of fusion plasmas they are searchers after nature's secrets. And as part of their research they are operating (or building) some of the largest scientific instruments ever conceived and pioneering a host of challenging new technologies ...   However science and technology are not the only fields where the two institutions can share experience. The 60-year-old CERN and the newer-born ITER also face common issues relating to procurement, scheduling, relations with industry, governance.   Age certainly makes a difference: CERN was born in 1954 at a time when science and technology embodied the hopes and dreams of the post-war generations; ITER is coming into the world in a difficult context marked by defiance and economic hardship.   Collaboration between CERN and ITER goes back a long way. It was formalized in 2008 by the signature of an Agreement that provided opportunities to cooperate in scientific, technological administrative fields.   The collaboration has been highly successful, with CERN running several experiments for ITER and becoming the reference laboratory for testing the superconducting strands of the ITER magnets.   At the last steering committee of the CERN/ITER Collaboration Agreement, on 29 June 2016, a need arose for broader discussions on strategy, perspectives and lessons learned from CERN. One issue that interested ITER especially was the installation and assembly of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the subsequent 2008 magnet quench incident that led to shutdown and repair.   From left to right: Frédérick Bordry, Director for Accelerators and Technology at CERN; Austin Ball, Technical Coordinator for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment; ITER's GS Lee, Deputy Director-General, who chaired the workshop; and Arnaud Devred, Superconductor Systems & Auxiliaries Section leader, who organized it. At a workshop on 30 September, attended by 6 guests from CERN, ITER management and representatives of the MOMENTUM consortium, which will manage and coordinate the assembly and installation of the ITER Tokamak and associated plant systems, notes were compared on respective experiences and expectations.   "Over the years, CERN has developed an ability to learn and improve, especially as witnessed during the LHC installation and its aftermath," explains ITER Superconductor Systems & Auxiliaries Section leader Arnaud Devred, who was behind the initiative. "This experience will feed our reflexion at a time when the ITER management is setting up a new organization for the assembly of the installation."   "The transition from paper project to installation is critical—always and everywhere," adds José Miguel Jiménez, head of the Technology Department at CERN. "It's like passing from adolescence to adulthood ..."   As "parents" having more experience with difficult children, the advice and counselling from CERN experts proved precious. "It was not just about the obvious technologies that we share," reflected Frédéric Escourbiac, leader of the ITER Divertor Section. "It was about procurement, scheduling, methodology, human resources, values, and culture."   The workshop proved so worthwhile, that it has been decided to organize another session—this time at CERN in January 2017.

The Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, where conductor lengths are transformed into large ring-shaped magnets, is the realm of large and powerful tools: tower-like "de-spoolers", a 5-metre-high vacuum test chamber, winding tables that are 17 metres in diameter, and an impregnation station as big as a carousel. Much less visible but no less important to the fabrication process is a humble drill, barely larger than one a dentist might use.   Operated by hand, the drill is used to finalize so-called "penetrations"—openings by which liquid helium will flow into the cable-in-conduit conductor.   The operation is an extremely delicate one. First, a larger power drill is used to carefully bore a one-euro-size hole into the conductor's steel jacket. Then—using a small hand drill—the technician advances by one-tenth-of-a-millimetre increments until steel foil is exposed. (The foil, only two-tenths of a millimetre thick, is wrapped around the superconducting strands inside the conductor).   Throughout the operation the inside of the conductor is placed under pressure so that all metal particles generated by the drill are evacuated. And as a side benefit, the pressure results in a "hissing" sound as soon as the steel foil is pierced, effectively warning the technician to be extra cautious.   Because it is of vital importance that the superconducting strands remain unharmed, the technician wields the drill carefully in the final stage of the process to slowly and progressively chip away at the steel foil until the strands are exposed.   The French company CNIM has been chosen by Europe as the manufacturing contractor in the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, where four of ITER's poloidal field coils will be fabricated.   Employees from CNIM have been practising the drilling technique for a few weeks now, and report that they feel comfortable with it. "Two tenths of a millimetre? That is a very comfortable safety margin," smiles André Forestier, the company's foreman on the ITER site.   In the long and complex sequence of operations that transforms conductor lengths into poloidal field coils weighing up to 400 tonnes, the quality of the hand drilling job is crucial. Once equipped with a helium inlet, each penetration (eight per coil, on average) forms a most strategic interface between the cryogenic system and the coils.

Ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) is one of three external heating systems that ITER will rely on to bring the plasma to fusion temperatures.   Radio waves at specific frequencies (40-55 Mhz) are generated by radio frequency sources, moved along massive transmission lines to two 45-tonne launchers, and finally transferred into the plasma through ports in the vacuum vessel. ICRH heating will deliver 20 MW of heating power into the ITER machine.   A team in India is overseeing the procurement of nine radio frequency sources for the ITER ICRH heating system and corresponding high voltage power supplies. At a dedicated R&D laboratory in Gandhinagar, work is underway to demonstrate the requirements for ITER deliverables, including a development program for a 2.5 MW radio frequency amplifier.   In recent news, a 3 MW dual output high voltage power supply system supplied by contractor ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited) was successfully operated at ITER parameters. The layout of the system was chosen to mimic the exact configuration that will be used at ITER, with a pair of cast resin multi-secondary transformers place at ground level and the electronics at mezzanine levels. Interconnecting cables are routed through high voltage feedthroughs on the upper floor.   The team in front of the power cubicles at the dedicated lab in Gandhinagar: Dishang Upadhyay, Rasesh Dave, Thibault Gassmann, Amit Patel, Hitesh Dhola, Niranjan Goswami and Kush Mehta. The high voltage power supply was operated continuously and successfully, delivering 2.8 MW of output power to drive 1.5 MW diacrode-based amplifiers on matched and mismatched loads.   These successful results will allow the Indian Domestic Agency to begin the procurement of power supplies for the ITER ICRH system.

At the Srednenevsky shipyard, on the Neva River near Saint Petersburg (Russia), manufacturing work is underway on ITER's poloidal field coil, #1 (PF1). Click here to view the different stages of fabrication of this 200-tonne component, the smallest of ITER's six ring-shaped magnets. (ITER Russia)  

The Japanese Domestic Agency has delivered a large number of books and teaching materials to the Japanese section of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur International School (EIPACA), which caters to the families of ITER staff as well as to the regional population. This is the third book donation made by ITER Japan to the Japanese language section and its pupils since the school opened in 2007. The school currently hosts six language sections (Chinese, English, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish), where teaching is divided between the host language (French) and the language of the section. The books were presented in a ceremony on 30 September by the head of the ITER Japan Liaison Office, Katsumi Nakajima, to school director Bernard Fronsacq.

For the third year in a row, the Swiss Plasma Center is offering a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on plasma physics. The popular class is divided into two parts--the basics of plasma physics, followed by applications of plasma physics (including fusion). Students can follow the segment sequentially, at their own pace, or begin with the more advanced course. The class, which begins on 13 October, is given in English by plasma physicists from the Swiss Plasma Center. More information here.