For the last issue of the ITER Newsline before the annual summer hiatus, we walked through the ITER construction site to cover the ongoing activities and convey, through this photo portfolio, the unique nature of the project—a scientific and industrial venture with few equivalents in history.   In the Assembly Hall, two upending tools stand side by side, each holding a 330-tonne toroidal field coil. For the first time, the twin steel cradles have worked almost in parallel, moving the large and weighty components from a horizontal orientation to vertical so they could be transferred into the arms of a sector sub-assembly tool. There, they will be attached to vacuum vessel sector #5 to form a “sector module,” one of the building blocks of the ITER plasma chamber.In the former Cryostat Workshop, there are three vacuum vessel sectors in various stages of finalization. One (#8) has been handed over to the ITER Organization after approximately one and a half years of repair.Inside the tokamak assembly pit, two sector modules are now in place. By the end of the year, when a third module joins them, the ITER plasma chamber will be one-third installed—nine modules, welded together, are required to form the toroidal volume where fusion reactions will be produced.With the industrial challenges of the past couple of years behind us (dimensional non-conformities on the sector bevel joints and corrosion issues on the thermal shield), the general mood is one of renewed enthusiasm and the general sense is one of acceleration—sector modules are getting assembled in 6 months instead of 18, the machine is taking shape, and systems are kicking in.This photo portfolio does not cover the entirety of what is happening on the ITER worksite. Major progress is also being accomplished in test facilities for the cryopumps and coils, in command control and data storage (see article), and in several ancillary systems indispensable to realizing the Promethean dream of fusion energy.In September, when Newsline resumes publication, we will highlight these other systems.

The ITER Scientific Data and Computing Centre is not just any data centre. It is a purpose-built digital engine room for ITER—one that combines cutting-edge computation with industrial-scale storage to support ITER’s scientific mission by enabling large-scale simulations, managing vast volumes of data, and ensuring the long-term preservation of research and engineering records. Unlike personal laptops or office computers, which typically feature a handful of processor cores, high-performance computing (HPC) systems operate on an entirely different scale. The ITER HPC system comprises over 17,000 CPU cores, equivalent to the combined power of more than 2,000 laptops working in parallel. This massive computational capacity allows researchers to model plasma dynamics, simulate reactor conditions, and perform complex engineering analyses in timeframes that would be unthinkable on ordinary machines.The ITER Scientific and Computing Centre is a state-of-the-art facility designed to host up to 1 megawatt (MW) of IT equipment, distributed across 48 racks. That’s roughly the same power demand as an entire residential neighborhood, or more than 300 average family homes running at full load. At launch, only half this capacity is energized, with expansion planned in line with ITER’s growing computational demands. The Centre features redundant power and cooling systems, multiple independent distribution paths, and the ability to perform maintenance without shutting down critical services. In practice, this means that it is expected to operate continuously with less than 1.6 hours of downtime per year.Data is a strategic asset for ITER. It is not just a byproduct of experiments and engineering design but a primary deliverable of the project. Safeguarding this data is therefore a top priority. During peak operations, the Data Centre is expected to manage 30–50 gigabytes per second of throughput, and daily archive volumes could reach between 90 and 2,200 terabytes, depending on the stage of the project. By around 2035, the cumulative data archive is projected to exceed one exabyte—a billion gigabytes—making it one of the largest scientific data stores in the world. To manage this scale securely and efficiently, the SDCC uses IBM Spectrum Scale, a high-performance parallel file system, to serve active computing workloads. For resilience and redundancy, it also implements offsite backup and disaster recovery using IBM Spectrum Protect, which ensures that critical data is replicated to secure locations beyond the main site. The backup infrastructure supports over 1,000 servers and filespaces, providing a centralized platform for managing and protecting the entirety of ITER’s digital ecosystem.Through the infrastructure of the Scientific Data and Computing Centre, ITER’s scientific legacy will be not only created but protected, preserved, and shared with the world.

His signature is at the bottom of ITER’s founding document, the ITER Agreement. For a few moments last week, during a visit with ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi in Tokyo, Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya reminisced about that day in Paris nearly 20 years ago. The official communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) was dated 17 November 2006. “Mr. Takeshi Iwaya, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit France from November 20 to November 21 to attend the signing ceremony for the Agreement on the Establishment of the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER Project (Joint Implementation Agreement) which will be held on November 21 in Paris.”The gathering of all ITER Members for the signature of the ITER Agreement had been made possible by the decision made, approximately one year earlier, to site the project in France. In a ceremony hosted at Elysée Palace by French President Jacques Chirac and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, representatives from each ITER Member signed the 34-page Agreement (including annexes) that outlined the ITER Organization's purpose and functions.  From the signature page of the ITER Agreement, Mr. Takeshi Iwaya for the Government of Japan. Last week, after attending Fusion Energy Day at the Osaka World Expo, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi made a courtesy visit to Minister Iwaya in Tokyo. He was able to report on the enthusiasm that had characterized the event, and the broad attendance of ITER Member delegations, Japanese officials, and representatives of national research institutes, industry partners, universities and the general public.Minister Iwaya shared his memories of the 2006 signing ceremony in France and expressed his expectations for the smooth progress of the project and the development of fusion energy.Director-General Barabaschi updated the Minister on the latest news from ITER and project status and expressed his appreciation for Japan’s consistent contribution to ITER and the ongoing support of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.See this report in the Japanese press about the visit.

You can personalize your phone for the summer with one of four different ITER wallpaper options. Just click on one of the options below to download.

The Fusion Industry Association has released its 2025 Global Fusion Industry Report. The report, which surveyed 53 private sector fusion companies (up from 45 last year), found that there has been a total of USD 9.766 billion in private and public funding of fusion companies—a sum that has increased five-fold since 2021. In the past 12 months, investment totalled USD 2.64 billion, a 178% rise from the previous year’s growth. The figure marks a significant increase from 2024 and is the second-highest yearly fusion funding figure since the report began, after the 2022 record year.Public investment in the private fusion sector is growing, increasing 84% last year and now totalling nearly USD 800 million across the globe.More than half of the fusion energy startups in the report are based in the United States (29), while a further 13 are in Europe. The remainder are operating in countries across Asia and Oceania. The survey shows that private-sector fusion companies directly employ 4,607 people and support at least 9,300 supply chain jobs, although the Association believes this to likely be underestimated, as not all companies provided employee data. Since 2021, the number of people employed directly by private-sector fusion companies has at least quadrupled.The report goes on to describe reported commercial timelines, company profiles, company milestones, and jobs growth.Consult or download the Fusion Industry Association's 2025 Global Fusion Industry Report from this page.

Ever wondered why and how scientists will recreate the power of a star on Earth?In this episode, "It's Magnetic," join host Kruti and fusion analyst Jack Moore as they unveil the magnetic magic behind ITER's fusion reactor. Discover how superconducting magnets creating fields 250,000 times stronger than the Earth's own magnetic field and can suspend plasma hotter than the sun in mid-vacuum—without touching anything. It's not one of David Copperfield's illusions; it's cutting-edge science.From "Princeton D" shaped coils to the royal central solenoid (she's our tokamak's empress), our expert speakers Christine Hoa, Simon McIntosh, Alexander Vostner, Vladimir Tronza and Laban Coblentz break down the invisible force field that will help humanity harness the power of the stars.Whether you're curious about how these technological marvels work at temperatures colder than the dark side of the moon or what the future holds for low and high-temperature superconductors, "It's Magnetic" delivers fusion science that's both accessible and awe-inspiring. Episode 4 of Behind the Science of Fusion is available now. Find it on the ITER website's podcast page or open it directly here. You can also find the ITER podcast at Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Podbean.

The 360° virtual tour of the ITER construction site has been updated with drone footage from May 2025. Discover the principal buildings of the ITER worksite, and the construction activities underway inside, by clicking on and rotating the 360° photos.Accessible from the NEWS & MEDIA pages of the ITER website or by clicking on the link below, the 2D tour requires no special equipment to enjoy. If you do have 3D glasses, click on the yellow goggle symbol at the top of any screen.Click here to see the latest 360° ITER virtual tour.