"Relief," "pride," "a sense of satisfaction"... these words were heard on the afternoon of 27 August as the last segment of the Tokamak Complex basemat (the B2 slab) was successfully poured. Work began at 5:50 a.m. on the perfectly circular segment that will support the weight of the ITER Tokamak and ended 12 hours later at 6:00 p.m.Late in the afternoon, some 100 people gathered in the Tokamak Pit—representatives of the ITER Organization; the European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy (F4E); F4E service contractors Engage (detailed design and work supervision), Energhia (management support) and Apave (health, safety and legal inspection services); and the F4E construction consortium led by GTM Sud from France—to celebrate the imminent completion of the works.ITER Director-General Osamu Motojima had the honour of putting the final, symbolic touch to the day's work. After smoothing the concrete surface with a trowel, he stopped to thank the workers for their hard work and dedication over the past months. He then turned to include the representatives of the organizations that had collaborated in the successful finalization of the B2 slab: "I congratulate all of you on this historic milestone—you have played an important role in the realization of ITER. The completion of concrete pouring on the B2 slab today represents a huge step forward."The B2 slab will support some 400,000 tonnes of building and equipment, including the 23,000-tonne ITER Tokamak. It's a "floating" foundation—installed on seismic columns, it has a capacity for lateral movement of up to 10 cm in any direction (a gap of approximately 1.5 metres separates the B2 slab from the surrounding retaining walls). To pour the last 576 square metres of the Tokamak Complex basemat (the B2 slab), workers began manning two concrete pumps before dawn on 27 August 2014. The 1.5-metre-thick slab will serve as the first basement level of the Diagnostic, Tokamak and Tritium buildings. Five large drain tanks, supports for the base of the cryostat (the concrete crown), and the building walls will be positioned directly on it. "Today is a terrific day for the ITER Project," said Tim Watson, head of ITER's Buildings & Site Infrastructure Directorate. "The completion of the B2 slab was the last step in creating the ground support structure and anti-seismic foundations for the ITER Tokamak. Now, we can look forward to seeing the Tokamak Complex walls rise." Concrete pouring for the 9,300 m² B2 slab began in December 2013. It took three pours to realize the Diagnostic Building basemat at the south side of the Tokamak Pit, and another three to realize the Tritium Building foundation at the opposite end. Both were relatively straightforward compared to the central part of the basemat, where orthoradial (circular) and orthogonal (right-angled) rebar arrangements interface. Following months of exchanges with the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and its technical experts at the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the hold point on this part of the slab was lifted and pouring operations were allowed to proceed. "Today's milestone demonstrates the project's capability to respect the required safety processes and advance systems integration, efforts which resulted in the release of the hold point by the ASN," emphasized Director-General Motojima. Miguel Curtido is F4E's technical responsible officer for the B2 slab: "Once we were given the green light, we began pouring the same day. We managed to keep a strong rhythm despite peaks in temperature and vacation schedules that made the pour days harder to schedule. We worked double shifts, on Saturday and—on three occasions—we poured concrete at night. The fact that we were able to realize nine segments in seven weeks is testimony to the incredible dedication of the entire team." "With the completion of the B2 slab, a new chapter opens in the history of our project," said ITER Director-General Motojima. "In September, construction of the Tokamak Complex will begin in earnest. You have built the floor; now come the walls, then the roof, and after that the machine itself..." "We kept to an ambitious schedule," adds Ben Slee, deputy head of Site, Buildings and Power Supplies at Fusion for Energy, "but at all times our first priority was quality and safety—these were not jeopardized at any moment. Today we have to thank not only those working on the construction site but also the hundreds of others who have been involved since the preparation and signature of the contract, within the different organizations, and who made this construction possible in terms of design, procurement, scheduling, quality, finance, etc."The B2 slab concludes work started four years ago to create a ground support structure for the Tokamak Complex that will protect the buildings and equipment in the case of a seismic event. A 17-metre-deep, 90 x 130 metre area was excavated and a ground-level basemat, retaining walls, and 493 seismic columns and pads were progressively installed. All of these works were carried out by the F4E construction consortium led by GTM Sud. (The anti-seismic bearings were installed by Nuvia Traveaux Speciaux which, like GTM, is part of the French group Vinci.)There now remain some procedural elements to conclude for the B2 slab (inspections, documentation); also, over the next few weeks GTM will be removing formwork and material from the worksite. "But today's milestone is key," says Miguel, "because it will allow the Tokamak Complex building consortium, VFR, to soon take possession of the entire B2 slab."The VFR consortium has already started to install formwork to frame out the lower walls of the Diagnostic Building. Next month, it will start to install five large cranes—including an 80-metre crane at the very centre of the Tokamak Pit—to transport building materials from storage areas at ground level to the B2 slab surface.The next phase of ITER construction is beginning. The number of workers on site will rise significantly as work begins on the walls of the Tokamak Complex and the first 60-metre-tall pillars are set into place for the adjacent Assembly Building.A three-minute video of the event can be viewed here.

 Read more about the completion of the Tokamak Complex concrete basemat in this story. Click here to watch a three-minute video of the last Tokamak Complex slab-pouring operation.

Some 300 ITER collaborators, most of them "external," will begin moving into the newly built, 3,500 m² Headquarters extension in late October. The extension's architecture and furnishings closely replicate those of the main Headquarters building. However, there will be more "open space" offices, accommodating up to 24 desks each. On the first floor a vast "Virtual reality room," comparable to the one at the neighbouring CEA-Cadarache centre, is being readied for total 3D immersion into the innards of the ITER Tokamak. The Headquarters building plus extension will provide close to 900 desks to ITER staff and external collaborators. However, approximately 100 people will remain in the pre-fabricated buildings B81 (formerly ITER Headquarters) and B82, mostly for operational reasons.

The ITER Organization and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) have entered into a five-year collaboration to operate a new facility that will test the assembly of the ITER magnet components.   The ITER superconducting magnets form the core of the machine. Supplied by six of the ITER Members—China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States—they will be connected to some 30 "feeders" that supply them with cryogenic fluids, electrical power and instrumentation.   Delivered by China, these feeders must operate faultlessly in a very harsh environment, threading between the other complex systems of the Tokamak.   Once shipped to ITER, and prior to their installation into the machine, the magnet feeders and coil instrumentation will undergo several tests and the simulation of procedures in order to prepare for the actual assembly process.   In order to provide the workshops where the tests can be carried out, as well as key technical staff, the ITER Organization and CEA are collaborating to set up and operate the Magnet Infrastructure Facilities for ITER (MIFI). The MIFI kick-off meeting was held on 16 July at CEA-Cadarache.   CEA has accumulated a strong experience in the field of cryogenics and large superconducting magnets applied to accelerator and fusion installations. For more than 20 years, the French public institution has been involved in the R&D activities that led to ITER construction. The MIFI agreement allows this know-how to be accessed by the ITER Organization.   The feeder vacuum barrier between the cryostat and the coil terminal box (part of the feeder). One of MIFI's tasks will be to assemble the bellows and cable plugs, where conductors, pipes and cables pass through the barrier. Photo: ASIPP The facility will be located on CEA premises, adjacent to the ITER site and with a potential direct access to it. It will consist of a dedicated storage and archiving building along with a set of four laboratories staffed with specialists in the required areas of expertise (low/high voltage instrumentation, insulation, superconductivity, cryogenics and mechanical assembly.)   The MIFI team will also train and qualify assembly teams, especially for the feeders. Where specific tasks such as joint soldering or high voltage insulation have to be tested and procedures qualified, full scale mock-ups will be delivered.   In the upcoming months, the basic workshop equipment will be purchased and installed and special test rigs will be transferred from the high voltage testing lab presently operating at CERN.   Components that are now stored in a warehouse some 30 km from the ITER site will be transferred to the new storage facility during September.

The European Domestic Agency has awarded a multimillion-euro engineering contract for the integration of diagnostic instruments into ITER vacuum vessel ports.The four-year contract was awarded to IDOM ADA, the Advanced Design and Analysis division of IDOM, a multinational specialized in engineering, architecture and consultancy services based in Spain.The company will work with instrument designers in several public European fusion laboratories as well as experts in Japan, India, China and the US to deliver a comprehensive engineering design that integrates approximately 20 diagnostic instruments into five of the ports that give access to the ITER plasma.The contract also covers the design of in-vessel metallic containers (weighing 5 to 20 tonnes each) to protect the diagnostic instruments from extreme temperature and to shield other components from neutron radiation. Structures to house the diagnostic instruments that will be mounted onto divertor cassettes will also be designed, as well as specialist flanges to provide water and electrical connections to the diagnostic instruments."[This is] a clear example of knowledge transfer from laboratories to industry," emphasized Henrik Bindslev, Director of the European Domestic Agency. "Europe's contribution to ITER has been a catalyst encouraging the two poles of knowledge and competitiveness to work closer."Read more on the European Domestic Agency's website.

​In Rokkasho, on the eastern coastline of Japan, Europe and Japan are jointly carrying out advanced R&D activities in support of ITER and for successful development of the phases after ITER. Termed the "Broader Approach," these efforts have been underway since 2007. In early August, the Director-General of the ITER Organization, Osamu Motojima, and ITER Council Secretary, Sachiko Ishizaka, visited Rokkasho for an update on Broader Approach activities and to share information about progress at ITER.  The activities of the Broader Approach are essential for the phases after ITER in the world fusion program. One project, IFMIF/EVEDA, is validating the concept for a fusion-relevant neutron source based on Li(d,xn) reactions and will permit the rapid construction of such a facility within cost and schedule less than a decade from the time that a decision is taken. Another—IFERC—not only holds a supercomputer that dedicated to plasma simulations for the world fusion community (Helios), but is also implementing research efforts towards a (post-ITER) DEMO reactor.  After visiting the facilities—including the injector of LIPAc, the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) that is presently under installation and commissioning—the visitors from ITER were able to appreciate the sound advancements and robust health of the Broader Approach projects.  Photo caption: After meeting the management of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, ITER Director-General Motojima (second from left) gave a seminar to Broader Approach staff on the evolution of ITER. Juan Knaster, Project Leader of IFMIF/EVEDA (far left) and Noriyoshi Nakajima (not pictured), Project Leader of IFERC, explained the status of their respective projects and plans for the future. Council Secretary Sachiko Ishizaka is pictured fifth from right. Kenkichi Ushigusa, Director-General of Rokkasho Fusion Institute (JAEA) is pictured third from right.

  Princeton - Tucked away from major roadways and nestled amid more than 80 acres of forest sits a massive warehouse-like building where inside, a device that can produce temperatures hotter than the sun has sat cold and quiet for more than two years.   But the wait is almost over for the nuclear fusion reactor to get back up and running at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. "We're very excited and we're all anxious to turn that machine back on," said Adam Cohen, deputy director for operations at PPPL.   The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) has been shut down since 2012 as it underwent a $94 million upgrade that will make it what officials say will be the most powerful fusion facility of its kind in the world. It is expected to be ready for operations in late winter or early spring, Cohen said.   Read more on the NJ.com website.

Four crates containing parts of an ITER electrical transformer (high voltage surge arresters) left the port of New York on 5 August; delivery to the ITER site in France is expected late September. The components were manufactured by ABB in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania.