In recent years, ITER’s conversations with private sector fusion startups have followed a familiar refrain: “We don’t all agree on the best technological path to fusion power. We often disagree on the timeline to commercialization. But we largely agree on the challenges that remain. We certainly have the same end goal: the realization of fusion power as a safe, abundant source of clean energy. And—critically—we agree that sharing our knowledge, in the framework of a global fusion R&D innovation program, could help us all go faster.” On 1 November 2024, ITER formally launched its new project for Private Sector Fusion Engagement (PSFE). The first exchanges with private sector startups have taken place, supported by the PSFE Help Desk (psfe@iter.org). Green light, go! The PSFE project consolidates a year of listening, brainstorming and planning that followed the ITER Council’s November 2023 request for ITER to engage with private sector fusion initiatives, and that included an inaugural private-public sector workshop and input from follow-up surveys and discussions. The driver has been a series of questions, asked and answered repeatedly: How can ITER help? How can we effectively match the pace of private-sector demand, within resource constraints? And what are the structures, platforms and channels best suited to delivering? The PSFE Help Desk will serve as the central coordination point for requests to access ITER documents, connections to ITER experts, and technical questions. Documents requested will be screened for defined criteria (e.g., export control restraints, protection of intellectual property), and the requesting entity will be asked to sign a user agreement. Technical visits by fusion startup companies can be requested through @email, or as before through @email, and will be referred to specific ITER divisions or experts, depending on the technical scope of the request. The results of these activities will be tracked for efficiency and value delivered. Other PSFE-related initiatives are progressing. The ITER-developed Integrated Modelling Analysis Suite (IMAS) software, which contains advanced tools to organize and manipulate fusion data, is ready for imminent open-sourced release, meeting a longstanding request of the private sector. The ITER Design Handbook, a multi-year effort to systematically document the knowledge gained to date in the design, manufacturing, construction, installation, and assembly of the ITER facility, is well underway with internal and external support. Discussions are progressing on how to enable private sector participation in the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) and its associated subgroups, including those focused on engineering topics. Reference catalogues of available fusion resources—technical experts, supplier companies capable of providing fusion-related technologies, and specific capacities (e.g., testing capabilities) of public sector facilities—are being compiled. Other channels of engagement are in development. A marriage of the public and private sector, on any area of cutting-edge R&D, is a complex endeavour. But the hoped-for results will be worth it: a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Fusion for Energy (F4E), the European Domestic Agency for ITER, has signed a major new contract for engineering services on the ITER construction site. Fusion for Energy has signed a multi-million deal running until 2030 for activities relating to design and construction management at ITER. The b.NEXT consortium (Assystem, Egis and Empresarios Agrupados) will provide consulting and engineering expertise for the final civil and mechanical works on the ITER construction site under European responsibility. Scope includes helping to complete the last roads, trenches, lighting and networks on the platform, works to prepare the Tritium Building for nuclear operation, and the design and construction of facilities that will house generators and fuel storage tanks. This contract comes as Fusion for Energy’s architect engineering contract with the ENGAGE consortium (Assystem, Egis, Empresarios Agrupados, and Atkins Realis) comes to an end. The new consortium maintains much of the expertise of the old, which will facilitate the transition.  “Europe’s participation in ITER offers companies a unique opportunity to be involved in the biggest international fusion project, which will influence the energy mix of the future," says Marc Lachaise, Director of Fusion for Energy. They will be part of a large supply chain managed by F4E, which will strengthen their skills, boost their competitiveness, and provide them with first-hand experience in developing tomorrow’s fusion devices. Building on our previous collaboration with b.NEXT partners, we rely on their expertise and renew our commitment to excellence and timely delivery.” Consortium partners plan to use cutting-edge digital technologies such as systems modelling and artificial intelligence to automate engineering and project management processes. See the original article on the Fusion for Energy website here.

Like soup in a microwave oven, the ITER plasma will be heated¹ by electromagnetic waves at frequencies that increase the velocity of the particles, and hence the plasma’s temperature. But contrary to a microwave oven, which targets water molecules, the ITER radiowave heating systems will focus on two different particles: electrons (through electron cyclotron resonance heating) and ions (through ion-cyclotron resonance heating). Originally, both systems were meant to be hosted in the Radiofrequency Building, a 50-metre-long, three-storey structure abutting the ITER Assembly Hall. Heating power requirements, stemming from the new baseline and its more robust Research Plan, have resulted in the Radiofrequency Building being devoted exclusively to equipment for the electron cyclotron system, while another building, located to the southwest of the Assembly Hall, will be erected to house the ion cyclotron system. The Radiofrequency Building, whose construction began in 2016, was recently handed over to the ITER Organization by the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy. On the two first floors, in the building’s south side, power supplies and current stabilizers procured by Europe and India, as well as ancillaries from Japan will soon be ready for high voltage commissioning. On the third floor, under an agreement with the Russian Domestic Agency, a small team of technicians from GYCOM, the gyrotron manufacturer, is at work installing cubicles and preparing the support structures and ancillaries for the first set of Russian gyrotrons. During his visit on Friday last week, the Russian Ambassador (5th from left) was accompanied by Anatoly Krasilnikov, Director of ITER Russia (right) and Aleksander Alekseev (blue helmet, half hidden), Deputy Head of the ITER Science & Integration Department. On Friday 15 November, the GYCOM workers on the third floor and the ITER team responsible for equipment installation received the visit of Russian Ambassador to France Alexey Meshkov. In this environment which epitomizes the ITER collaboration, with equipment coming from Europe, Japan, India, Russia and the United States, the Ambassador was impressed and praised “the international team, all the different languages I have heard spoken and everyone understanding each other through a common one…” Procured by Russia (8), Japan (8), Europe (6) and India (2), there will be a total of 24 gyrotrons installed on the south side of the Radiofrequency Building. Commissioning is set to begin in 2025 An equivalent number will be installed in the north side at a later stage, and still more gyrotrons will be needed to deliver the electron cyclotron resonance power required by the new scientific program of the ITER tokamak. ¹Radiowave heating is but one of the ITER plasma heating systems. Neutral beam injection will also contribute to bringing the plasma to the temperature at which fusion reactions can occur (~ 150 million degrees Celsius).

A vacuum vessel sector standing in an assembly tool is a strikingly beautiful sight. Two sectors being assembled in parallel, each in a dedicated tool, is a comforting one—the unmistakable sign that the momentum is back. Two years have passed since vacuum vessel assembly was halted following the identification of non-conformities in the ITER tokamak's vacuum vessel sectors and microscopic cracks in thermal shield cooling pipes. With two sectors and most of the thermal shield panels now fully repaired, the re-assembly of vacuum vessel sectors #7 and #6 into sector modules (paired with thermal shields and toroidal field coils) is underway. With thermal shield panels already in place around sector #7, workers are installing the lower adapters on the wings of the tool for the pair of toroidal field coils that will be rotated inward towards the sector. Last week, in the tool occupied by sector #7, workers were busy installing lower adapters on the wings of the tool for the pair of toroidal field coils that will be rotated inward towards the sector. In the other giant standing tool, sector #6 has just been freed from the scaffolding that hid it from view during the repair phase. The initial assembly of sector #6 in 2021-2022 (before it was installed in and then removed from the tokamak pit) had required 18 months of patient work. The aim now is to divide by a factor two and a half to eventually three the assembly time required for each of the nine modules required for completing the toroidal vacuum vessel of the ITER tokamak. The aim now is to eventually divide the assembly time of each sector by three. Following this schedule, sector module #7 should be ready for installation in February 2025, followed two months later by sector module #6.

A new report from the non-profit environmental organization Clean Air Task Force (CATF) explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) are accelerating fusion energy development in key areas, including materials selection, high-temperature superconductors, inertial fusion energy, tritium breeding, and advanced diagnostics. A Survey of Artificial Intelligence and High Performance Computing Applications to Fusion Commercialization was released as the COP29 climate conference was underway in Azerbaijan and introduced at the ITER booth on 15 November by Sehila Gonzalez de Vicente, CATF Global Director for Fusion Energy. Key findings from the 119-page report include:  The arrival of new cloud-based computing tools and AI accelerates prospects for commercialized fusion energy The new ecosystem for high-performance computing and AI will be critical in both how we deliver and use fusion energy The fusion-tech nexus could deliver revolutionary results in materials science, control systems, and superconductors From the report's Executive Summary: "Until recently, fusion's rate of progress was set by empirical science: building machines and testing ideas, generating datasets, and then choosing the next design based on empirical scaling. This manual design process could be a years-to-decades-long process. [...] Today, AI and HPC can speed up progress by doing much of the empirical scaling 'in silico.’ HPC-enabled “parameter sweeping,” or determining which design configurations are potentially viable, helps narrow down the nearly infinite range of possible machine parameters. [...] The speed at which these tools work can drastically reduce the time it takes for developers to move from initial exploration to a basic conceptual design suitable for further development. Furthermore, advancements in cloud-based HPC have democratized access to computational tools that were previously limited to dedicated supercomputers. This has broadened access to high-performance computing across the fusion ecosystem, enabling a diverse range of concepts, including less common fusion concepts, to take advantage of modern simulation tools to accelerate the investigation and optimization of their designs. [...] AI and HPC’s ability to change the design process itself could assist with bringing facilities online sooner." Read the full report and executive summary. Watch the presentation of the report that was made at the ITER COP29 booth on 15 November.

A new video explores how the WEST tokamak, run and operated by the Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (IRFM) at the French Alternatives Energies and Atomic Energy Commission's Cadarache site near ITER, is helping to prepare for ITER operation. WEST, for W (tungsten) Environment in Steady-state Tokamak, is the former Tore Supra, transformed with a full-tungsten, actively cooled divertor that is based on the same design and technology as the ITER tungsten divertor. Experiments at WEST allow scientists and engineers to address risks both in terms of industrial-scale manufacturing and in the operation of the components. A joint team made up of representatives of the CEA, the ITER Organization and the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy meets regularly to coordinate tests and share the lessons learned from the WEST experiments. WEST is currently running a campaign of tests. Join the team in the control room here.