A full-scale prototype of a blanket shield block manufactured in China successfully passed acceptance tests, including the challenging hot helium leak testing in February. An important qualification milestone has been achieved in the ITER blanket program ...   On 14 February, two days before the start of the Chinese New Year, the Chinese Domestic Agency successfully accomplished the last in a series of back-to-back qualification milestones in its program to procure 50 percent of the blanket shield blocks required by ITER.   The ITER blanket consists of 440 individual modules covering a surface of 600 m² inside of the vacuum vessel. The plasma-facing surface of the blanket—the first wall—is attached to massive components called shield blocks that provide neutron shielding for the vessel and magnet coil systems. These thick steel blocks, weighing up to four tonnes apiece, interface with many other systems, in particular a large number of diagnostics. For this reason there are a total of 28 major design variants and 150 or more minor design variants. The Chinese and Korean Domestic Agencies are each providing 220 shield blocks. In December 2017, Chinese suppliers in Guangzhou completed an 18-month program to manufacture a full-scale prototype of shield block SB09A. The next month, a dedicated facility for hot helium leak testing was commissioned in Chengdu—just in time to begin test activities on the SB09A prototype. From 6 to 14 February, hot helium leak tests were carried out according to ITER Organization accepted procedures, and witnessed by ITER Organization representatives. The results met all relevant ITER requirements.   The shield block module SB09A, located in the upper region inside the vacuum vessel, represents probably the most complex type of shield block structure—making it the most challenging to manufacture of all shield blocks to be procured by China. It has the most complex geometry, with several cut-outs to accommodate interfacing systems and diagnostics, and is largely tapered. For this reason it was selected as a full-scale prototype to qualify the manufacturing technologies that will be used in series production.   From 6 to 14 February, hot helium leak tests were carried out according to ITER Organization procedures, and witnessed by ITER Organization representatives. The hot helium leak test represents the definitive demonstration of the fitness for purpose of the component to operate in an ultra-high vacuum environment. Chinese manufacturers started on the full-scale prototype in July 2016, progressively accomplishing all of the fabrication steps including machining datum, drilling the deep holes of the cooling channel, side machining, welding of cover plates, and final machining. From nine tonnes of original stainless steel forgings, the final full-scale prototype after machining was 2.8 tonnes. Many tests were performed throughout the fabrication process to verify quality—such as preliminary dimensional examination, non-destructive examination, and hydraulic pressure tests, which all showed acceptable manufacturing results.   The shield blocks, like all the in-vessel components, have to operate under ultra-high vacuum conditions (ten billion times lower than atmospheric pressure). Therefore stringent design, manufacturing and testing provisions have to be planned in order to ensure that the demanding vacuum requirements are met. In this regard, the so-called hot helium leak test represents the definitive demonstration of the fitness for purpose of the component to operate in an ultra-high vacuum environment. This test foresees the cycling of the components up to the operational temperature and pressure in order to be able to detect the tiniest microleaks, which would not be detectable by other means.   During commissioning tests at the dedicated hot helium leak test facility in Chengdu, operators verified that the sensitivity of the helium detector and the background helium leak rate could reach ITER requirements; in both cases the facility performed well.   During two full cycles of testing on the full-scale prototype, results showed that the maximum helium leakage rate was well within ITER requirements. As the first hot helium leak test on a large ITER blanket component, the results provide valuable reference data for the further investigation of the acceptance criteria of ITER blanket components. They also provide an important benchmark for developing hot helium leak test standards for the large vacuum components of future tokamaks.   See the gallery of photos below.  

In August of last year, a circular platform—the "lid"—was installed deep inside of the ITER bioshield, effectively splitting the well-shaped work area into two. The 140-tonne steel structure was designed to protect the workers active in the basement levels while offering storage for the activities underway on the four above-ground levels. Now, as teams are preparing for the pouring of the concrete crown and buttressing walls at the lowest level of the Tokamak assembly arena, it was time to hoist the lid some 20 metres to the very top.   The same technique that was used in September 2015 to lift the 800-tonne roof of the Assembly Hall was implemented last Friday 9 March to raise the structure centimetre by centimetre, carefully maintaining its perfectly horizontal position.   The "lid" will remain in its present position until April 2020 when it will be removed to allow components into the assembly pit. Eight hydraulic jacks—positioned on sturdy platforms distributed around the top of the bioshield—slowly pulled on cables that were attached to the lid in an operation lasting three hours.   The bioshield's new "roof" will remain in its present position until April 2020, when the lid will be removed in preparation for the first components to be delivered for installation by the overhead handling cranes.   Click here to read a related report on the European Domestic Agency website.

In the hearing room of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, the wall bears an inscription of the above quote from the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. It set a fitting context for much of the discussion as the Subcommittee on Energy met on 6 March to discuss the future of the US fusion research program, including US participation in the ITER Project. "For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see,Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be."     As the Washington Post reported the next day, the hearing was striking for its clear bipartisan support for ITER and the benefits of US participation. One after another, Republicans and Democrats noted the importance of fusion as part of a future global energy supply, and the corresponding importance of ITER as a core element of the US fusion research program (just as ITER is a core element of fusion research for each Member). As stated by the Republican Chairman of the Subcommittee, Representative Randy Weber, "Though located in France, ITER is also a US research project."   A particular topic of discussion was the ongoing shortfalls in the US budget contributions to ITER. Chairman Weber noted that the 2019 budget of $75 million proposed by the US Administration is "well below the amount needed to keep the project on track." His counterpart at the hearing, Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, added her concern, listing by name the other ITER Members and declaring, "We cannot afford to lose our seat at this table."   These sentiments were echoed by the Chairman of the Full Committee, Republican Representative Lamar Smith, who also chose to attend the hearing. "Reducing annual funding will only delay ITER instruments being built here in the United States," he stated, "and cause construction delays that increase overall project cost."   ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot's testimony also emphasized the budgetary risks facing the project. "A shortfall in the contribution of any single member, if it impacts the delivery of components or the capacity of ITER to meet the assembly and installation schedule, will have a cascading effect in delays, costs, and the disruption of fusion research for every other member." "It is clear that the status of US contributions is becoming urgent for ITER," said Bernard Bigot. ""But it is also clear that US officials are giving the situation their full attention." Most of the Director-General's message, however, focused on positive signs: the strong pace of progress in construction and manufacturing, the repeated validation through external review and audit that ITER is "well managed to the best industry standards," and the overall Member contributions that have led to ITER recently crossing the 50 percent mark in "total construction work scope through First Plasma."   Bigot's statements about progress were well aligned with the praise for the project that was given by many of the Congressional representatives present. Chairman Smith specifically thanked the ITER Director-General for "his leadership of this complex and challenging international research project." Also of note was the commendation from Republican Representative Frank Lucas—the only Congressional leader present who had physically visited the ITER worksite, in October 2015. Representative Lucas called the progress of the intervening years "impressive," and was among the most outspoken Committee members on the need for the United States. to meet its commitments and take full advantage of its status as an ITER Member.   In addition to Director-General Bigot, Congressional leaders heard from: James W. Van Dam, acting Associate Director of Fusion Energy Sciences in the Department of Energy's Office of Science; Mickey Wade, Director of Advanced Fusion Systems in the Magnetic Fusion Energy Division of General Atomics; and Mark Herrmann, Director of the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Each member of the panel spoke supportively of ITER. At the conclusion of his statement, Wade gave the Committee two recommendations: that the US should make a firm commitment to fully fund ITER; and that the US should move now to establish a comprehensive strategic plan that seeks to capitalize on ITER's success.   During his short time in Washington, Director-General Bigot also held meetings with the Undersecretary for Science at the Department of Energy, Paul Dabbar; with representatives of four bureaus of the State Department; and with a number of officials from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, including those involved with the Nuclear Energy Policy Review—a review that, among other topics, is examining US participation in ITER.   The ITER Director-General says that he left those meetings with concern (as long as a final decision is not taken) but also with hope. "It is clear that the status of US contributions is becoming urgent for ITER," he said. "But it is also clear that US officials are giving the situation their full attention. They are keenly aware of the important role ITER plays as an essential part of the US fusion program. I continue to feel optimistic that we will see a positive decision in the near future."   The two-hour long hearing, "The Future of U.S. Fusion Energy Research," can be viewed here, together with the written version of opening statements made by Committee Chairman Lamar Smith and Subcommittee Chairman Randy Weber.

The critical technologies of neutral beam injection—the workhorse of ITER plasma heating—will be demonstrated in advance of ITER operation at a test facility located in Padua, Italy. Integrated commissioning of the facility's SPIDER* test bed officially started on 9 March after the installation of the high-tech SPIDER beam source, procured by Europe.    The key aspects of the ion sources for the heating and diagnostic neutral beam injectors at ITER will be tested on SPIDER, an ITER-scale negative ion source now fully assembled at the Neutral Beam Test Facility in Padua, Italy. The last major component—the neutral beam source—was delivered to the test facility last October, and in the months that followed the source successfully passed pressure, leak, magnetic field mapping, and electrical tests.   Designed and manufactured with cutting-edge technologies under a Procurement Arrangement with the European Domestic Agency (and with the design and engineering contribution of ITER Organization and Padua host lab Consorzio RFX), the SPIDER beam source will be a stepping stone for the development of neutral beam injection—the powerful system that will inject 33 megawatts of heating power into the ITER plasma.   The highly energetic neutral atoms in the neutral beams will transfer their energy through multiple collisions to the ions, increasing the plasma temperature to the level required to initiate fusion. This temperature will reach 150 million degrees Celsius, about 10 times the internal temperature of the Sun.   The most challenging components of the heating neutral beam program will be put to the test at the Neutral Beam Test Facility, hosted by the Italian research organization Consorzio RFX in Padua. The European, Japanese and Indian Domestic Agencies are all contributing to those components according to the technical specifications included in Procurement Arrangements signed with the ITER Organization; Italy is building the facility as a voluntary contribution to the neutral beam development program. Two test beds are under development at the Neutral Beam Test Facility—SPIDER which will test and develop the ITER full-scale radio-frequency negative ion source; and MITICA, where a full-power 1MeV accelerated beam will be tested at full pulse length in demonstration of the heating neutral beam used in ITER. The SPIDER beam source is an ITER-like full-size radio-frequency-driven plasma source capable of extracting a negative deuterium ion beam (D¯ beam) of 70A and then accelerating it to energies of 100 keV. It will contribute to optimizing the production and extraction of negative ions as well as to establishing operating techniques. It will also offer the chance to measure the uniformity of the extracted beam for the first time at ITER scale. Operating the SPIDER test bed is a necessary milestone on the path to heating the future ITER plasma. After five years of manufacturing and lessons learned, the beam source was delivered to the neutral beam facility where it successfully passed all site acceptance tests. More recently, on 16 February, the five-tonne beam source was transferred from the clean room where it was stored and tested to its final operating position inside the SPIDER vacuum chamber. The copper grid apertures (which guide the neutral beam into 1,280 small beamlets) as well as the overall position of the beam source were thoroughly controlled by metrologists using laser trackers to ensure the correct aiming of the beam. The final auxiliary services (water, electrical, radio frequency, thermocouples) were connected and the vacuum vessel was closed and evacuated, allowing the ITER Organization, the European Domestic Agency, and Consorzio RFX to start integrated commissioning activities. This important step forward for the ITER neutral beam program also represents the on-time achievement of an ITER Council milestone. *SPIDER = Source for the Production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from RF plasma. Read a recent report on the European Domestic Agency website.  

  The superconducting tokamak KSTAR has been in operation at the National Fusion Research Institute in Daejeon, Korea, since 2008. The KSTAR conference, held annually, offers scientists from around the world the opportunity to exchange information on joint experiments and engineering activities at KSTAR and other fusion devices, as well as to discuss the current status of ITER, fusion power plant design, theory, basic plasma research and application. The 2018 edition, held from 21 to 23 February in Muju, Korea, continued the tradition, with 287 participants (including 46 researchers from abroad) and 210 papers presented.   There were detailed reports on the research highlights achieved on KSTAR, the domestic program for ITER in Korea, and the K-DEMO program—a forward-looking development program for the device after ITER. Plenary talks were also given by invited speakers on the European tokamak JET, the LHD stellarator (Japan), and the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak (Germany).   State-of-the-art fusion research was highlighted in discussions on steady-state high-performance operational scenarios, 3D physics on ELM suppression, and disruption mitigation—with special sessions for promoting KSTAR collaborative research in these areas with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (US) and the Fusion CDT doctoral program in the UK.   The presentations of young scientists on challenging research areas were also a highlight of the 2018 KSTAR conference.

Lufthansa believes that being stuck on a transatlantic flight can involve more than just eating, drinking and watching movies. That is why the German airline has created what it calls the "FlyingLab." Early in March, the Flying Lab took off for the South by Southwest festival of film, music and emerging technology in Texas (US). And ITER was on board ... On 8 March, a specially equipped airbus A380 left Frankfurt for Houston, Texas—the entry port for those attending the South by Southwest Festival from 9 to 18 March in the city of Austin. On board, a little studio had been set up in the rear of the plane where five speakers from very different fields presented their projects, backed up by live performing artists. Adding even more uniqueness, this particular FlyingLab occurred on International Women's Day—so the speakers were women, and flight LH440 was commanded by an all-female crew.   The presentations, follow-up interviews and Q&A sessions were made accessible to all 509 passengers on board through video circuit. LH440 was just about to pass the southern tip of Greenland, at a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet, when it was ITER's turn to talk about the Sun—and how we are trying to harness the energy that powers it.   ITER Communication's Sabina Griffith made the in-flight presentation on ITER as part of a Lufthansa FlyingLab en route between Frankfurt and Houston. This unusual start to the week was fully in sync with the creative, exploratory and future-driven spirit of the festival that aims to "explore what's next in the worlds of film, culture, music and technology" and that celebrates the "unexpected discoveries that happen when diverse topics and people come together."   On one side of the ITER stand at South by Southwest, the North American company Vice Media offered "free stuff and baby goats." (Practicing yoga side-by-side with goats is apparently the latest therapeutic trend in a technology-dominated world.) On the other, Japanese exhibitors promoted "sushi teleportation"—or the ability to 3D print real food based on digitalization. Across the corridor, the German sound pioneer Sennheiser presented a real singer supported by a virtual guitar and saxophone, made visible on large pads through augmented reality.   The South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) is frequently referenced as the world's biggest and craziest event for the music, film, gamer and interactive industries—and for all pilgrims of the bitcoin and blockchain age. Held every March in Austin, Texas, since 1987, the festival now attracts upwards of 300,000 people. There is music for every taste, and the long queues in front of the theatres indicate that Steven Spielberg, Mark Hamill, Ethan Hawke and other prominent names of the film industry are in town.   The "international effort to build a Sun on Earth" held its own among the high-tech stands of South by Southwest. Pictured is Lynne Degitz from US ITER. And why is ITER present? At last year's SXSW gathering, the documentary Let there be light premiered and was rapidly rated amongst the 15 "must see" films of the festival. That triggered intense interest in fusion on the part of the festival organizers and attendees, leading to a flurry of communication with the ITER Organization and ultimately the decision to attend the show and hold up the fusion energy flag.   So although the ITER stand had nothing truly "geeky" to offer, the international effort to build a Sun on Earth for the purpose of advancing fusion energy—innovation on a massive scale—enthralled and inspired. From the many engineers at SXSW who were familiar with fusion from their university days, there was genuine excitement at seeing the project rise out of the ground.   Electricity is the key to this flashy and funky world of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and immersive 3D experiences. Without a massive supply of clean energy there will be no AI robots, holographic musicians, self-driving intelligent vehicles or ... sushi teleporters.    

Stephen Hawking came into life on the very day that Galileo Galilei had left it, some 300 years earlier. He passed away on 14 March, the date of Albert Einstein's birth. If these coincidences are not enough to make one wonder, 14 March—which can be written as 3/14—is also celebrated by mathematicians around the world as "Pi Day" ... "Pi" (Π) being a mathematical constant that even non-mathematicians are familiar with. Confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed by a neurodegenerative condition, and unable to communicate without a computerized voice system, Hawking, like Galilei and Einstein before him, radically redefined our perception of the Universe.   Hawking was not only interested in black holes, quantum mechanics and the "theory of everything"—he was also preoccupied by the future of our planet, which he considered "under threat from many different areas."   Fusion energy, in his view, offered promise for the main challenges that mankind would inevitably face. In 2010, asked by Time Magazine which scientific discovery or advance he would like to see in his lifetime, he replied without hesitation: "I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming."   In June last year at the Starmus Festival of arts and sciences in Norway, he entrusted nuclear fusion with another mission: providing the fuel that would open the way to mankind's relocation—which he deemed inevitable—to another habitable planet. But travelling to this new home, he said, would require a "much higher exhaust speed than chemical rockets can provide."   As fusion reactions deliver millions of times more energy per mass unit than today's rocket fuels, a fusion-propelled star ship and its human cargo could, according to Hawking's calculation, be accelerated to "one tenth of the speed of light" and reach habitable worlds in acceptable time.   Science-fiction? Moonshine? Pipe dream? Maybe, or, like so many things Hawking ... simply visionary.